Originally posted by Fishu
Casualties by automobiles are mostly due to accidents.
Casualties by firearms are mostly due to intentional shooting.
absolutely.
so if you want to ban guns because 'guns kill people', then you shouldn't even be wondering about guns until you deal with the car problem.
you yourself said that in most cases involving a gun death, a person made a deliberate decision to end another person.
while, as you say, car deaths mostly happen complete against the will or intention of the owner/operator of the machine.
I don't seriously think we should ban cars, and I doubt any others meant that either.
the point is (hey Curval, this is why the car analogy is legitimate)- that if you want to go on some crusade to ban 'evil machines', then cars should be much higher on your list than guns. they kill way more people and in the vast majority of cases the deaths where completely unintentional.
if you can see how stupid it is to ban cars, than why can't you see how asinine it is to make an even more extreme reach to ban guns?
IMO the reason many can see the stupidity of banning cars but can't carry that logic over to guns is simply that they have grown up around cars all of their life, they know that they are, for the most part, safe if well maintained and operated with care. we have also come to except that while, by being careful, responsible, aware, doing regular maintenance, and not taking stupid risks we can greatly reduce our risk of injury or death in an automobile, there is always going to be some risk because we can't control whether or not the other guy is exercising the same care and responsibility. we recognize that unless the other guy has abused his rights there is no reason anyone should be taking them away. if however he drives recklessly, or puts other in danger then we take his right to drive away, not everyone in the country, just his.
to those of us who grew up owning guns it's the exact same thing. I received my first .22 at 5yrs old (they didn't allow my to keep the bolt with the rifle, in the rack in my room, until I was 13.) I've been safely operating firearms for about 10 years longer than I have been driving.
when I hear the ban guns talk, I'm struck with the same amount of total shock a the shear level of stupidity of the suggestion as I would if you tried to make a case for banning cars.
the simple fact is cars are much more dangerous. they don't require a decision to make them kill. they are truly the more 'evil machine' of the 2. they just freak some of you out because most of your exposure is from Hollywood or the news (that reports every shooting, even if nobody is hit. yet only reports traffic accidents if they are extreme or block traffic).
