Well, yet again some keep trying to blame inanimate objects for the actions of the human beings that use those objects. Thus we get the old, tired “Guns were designed to kill. Guns kill. We must get rid of guns.” argument.
Here’s one of my “hot button” issues. Death by automobile.
Autos obviously were not designed to kill, but they are just as efficient at it as guns,
if not more so. Is the automobile then held accountable? Are there cries for confiscation and destruction of all automobiles? No, of course not.
Why is that? Because in this case, society is willing to accept the deaths of even larger number of individuals in exchange for being able to travel 60 miles in one hour to go see a sporting event or run down to the 7-11 for a gallon of milk. This great “boon” to humanity makes the cost in human life acceptable, even commonplace and unremarkable, if theoretically unavoidable.
Guns do not have the same universal acceptance as a necessary part of society that automobiles enjoy. Thus, despite specific and inescapably clear language to the contrary in the Constitution, some feel that it would be fine to deprive others of the right to own and use firearms in a lawful manner.
Let’s look at some numbers and compare them to what Leonid posted about gun statistics in 1997: (Auto numbers from Mothers Against Drunk Driving and US DOT websites)
Privately owned US firearms: @ 192 millionRegistered US Autos & Light Trucks: 198,755,638...amazingly close, eh? Call it 199 million.
US Gun deaths: 32,436US Vehicle deaths: 41,967
Deaths per Gun: .00016
Deaths per Vehicle: .00021
While the gross number of deaths are considered “high” in both cases, the percentages are extremely low. Clearly this shows that MOST guns and MOST cars are NOT involved in killing people.
Guns kill more than 11 children and teenagers, ages 19 and under, every day.During a typical weekend, an average of one teenager dies each hour in a car crash..
Traffic crashes are the major cause of death for children in the age group 0-14.
More than 35% of all 16-to-20 year-old deaths result from motor vehicle crashes.
Children younger than 13 represented 19 percent of the U.S. population in 1994 and six percent of all motor vehicle deaths. Child deaths have represented about this percentage of vehicle deaths since the early 80's.
Direct medical costs for firearm injuries was $4 billion in 1997. Additional indirect costs, such as lost potential earnings, were estimated at $19 billion.Medical costs for 1993 traffic crash injuries were approximately $22 billion..
In 1994, the mean direct medical cost per gunshot injury was approximately $17,000, much of which was paid by U.S. taxpayers.Over 25 percent of the first year medical costs for persons hospitalized as a result of a crash are paid by tax dollars, about two-thirds through Medicaid and one third through Medicare.
One could go on and on with these minor comparisons but it should be obvious that the loss of life, injury and economic costs associated with both of these inanimate objects is very similar.
The key factor is that BOTH of these inanimate classes of device are totally harmless until a human being takes control of the object.
What or who shall control the human being?
This brings me to what I consider the most important fact. What happens when the automobile is used in a criminal manner? Specifically, let’s look at “drunk driving”.
I consider DUI a totally criminal act, no different than firing a gun into a crowd. You may or may not kill someone but the result depends entirely upon chance. DUI IS violent crime.
During the period 1982 through 1999, approximately 349,472 persons lost their lives in alcohol-related traffic crashes. (NHTSA, 1999)
In 1997 there were 41,967 traffic fatalities and of these 16,189 were alcohol related fatalities. In other words, 38.6% of all traffic deaths were alcohol related.
In 1998 15,935 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic crashes---an average of one every 33 minutes.
In 1998 about 630,000 were injured in alcohol-related crashes-an average of one person injured approximately every minute.
Estimates are that 2,104 persons aged 16-20 died in alcohol-related crashes in 1998. (NHTSA, 1999)
Alcohol-related crashes cost society $45 billion, yet this conservative estimate does not include pain, suffering and lost quality of life. These indirect costs raise the alcohol-related crash figure to a staggering $116 billion in 1993. (Miller et al, 1996b)
A drunk driving crash costs innocent victims $26,000. Comparable crime costs per victim: assault-$19,000; robbery-$13,000; motor vehicle theft-$4,000. Yet, the drunk driving crash is the only one of these crimes that is often not a felony for the first offense. (Miller et al, 1996a, 1996b)
Significant statistics that indicate DUI is a major problem? I think so.
Are you amazed that NOT ONE SINGLE STATE in the entire US classifies a DUI as felony on the first offense?
Yes, you can be driving a 3000 pound bullet around at 60 miles an hour (go figure your muzzle energy on THAT one!) in a totally intoxicated state and simply be guilty of a misdemeanor.
In just 4 states is a Second Offense considered a felony and those have time limitations on them. In all, just 23 States consider DUI a felony offense and most of those only apply to 3rd or 4th violations.
How can all this be? All of those things...except one...that people propose to lower firearm accidents have ALREADY been done in the case of automobiles accidents.
There is a minimum age limit for getting a driver’s license.
There is required training and both written and practical testing that a prospective driver must successfully complete before taking to the road.
Cars themselves are registered and licensed.
Purchases and transfers of cars from one owner to another are closely monitored, recorded and regulated.
New safety devices have been mandated, from seat belts to air bags.
New improvements have been offered by manufacturers, from anti-lock brakes to night vision devices.
None of these has had any effect on automobile deaths and PARTICULARLY not on alcohol related automobile deaths. The death rate has remained essentially constant.
The only thing left is to confiscate all the cars, right?
No, this simply brings us to the HEART OF THE MATTER. Only when a human being gets behind the wheel does a car become a threat.
....and a human is the GREATEST threat when he/she breaks the law no matter what inanimate object they are controlling.
...and the ONLY way you are ever going to bring this problem under control is to DEMAND Responsibility and Accountabilty from those who would abuse the privilege of driving. In other words, you must prosecute the criminals. Tough concept, eh?
Where is the outrage? Where are the cries to reform automobile design/usage/ownership/privileges and lower the death toll? Where is the groundswell of support for MADD against DUI drivers? Where is the determination to stop DUI drivers?
Now, shall we punish ALL DRIVERS for the criminal actions of the few?
No, no one supports that. In fact, it is ridiculous; lucicrous. Yet that is EXACTLY the solution proposed by the anti-gun forces.
Once again, it boils down to two things. Responsibility. Accountability.
Each person must be responsible for their own actions.
Society must hold people accountable for their actions.
US society has been moving away from this concept since the late ‘60’s.
You can be caught driving DUI in Leonid’s State of Washington and NEVER be convicted of a Felony. Because in Washington, it ISN’T a Felony no matter what your blood alcohol level may be; it’s just a misdemeanor. In 1997, 676 citizens of Washington died in traffic fatalities. 44.4% of those (300) were alcohol related fatalities. Nearly 50 % of those killed were killed by drivers BREAKING THE LAW.
This despite the fact that the Washington State Patrol issued 16,629 citations for DUI. Would making DUI a Felony in Washington and coupling that to a mandatory prison sentence save a few lives? I bet that it would. If those 16,000+ folks that got DUI citations from the WSP had spent 6+ months in prison I bet the number of folks DUI would drop dramatically. As an inescapable result, traffic fatalities would drop as well.
Is there ANY evidence that suggest holding criminals accountable for their actions would result in LESS crime?
Well, suprisingly enough, let's look to the "gun problem" for a hint.
Holding criminals accountable WORKS. Speculation? No, there is supporting evidence from Project Exile in Richmond, VA.
http://www.vahv.org/Exile/Richmond/RchBody.html The site is worth considerable study, including the links, but here is the “quick and dirty”.
“Project Exile is an expedited federal prosecutive effort by the United States Attorney's Office, in coordination with the Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney's Office and Police Department, to combat Richmond's escalating problem of gun violence. The project has made significant strides since it began on February 28, 1997 against the problem, but reducing gun violence requires a coordinated community response insure continued success...
Project Exile is named for the idea that if the police catch a criminal in Richmond with a gun in a crime,
the criminal has forfeited his right to remain in this community, the criminal will face immediate federal prosecution and stiff mandatory federal prison sentences (often five to ten years), and will be "exiled" to federal prison for five+ years. The rule is simply, "No Guns." In the project, the United States Attorney's Office prosecutes all felons with guns, guns in drug trafficking, and gun/domestic violence cases in federal court. No limits are placed regarding numbers of weapons or quantities of drugs involved. When a police officer finds a gun during the officer's duties, the officer pages an A.T.F. agent (24 hours a day). They review the circumstances and determine whether a federal statute applies. If so, federal criminal prosecution is initiated....”
Has it worked? Absolutely! So much so that a similar project, Cease Fire, was tried in Philadelphia with similar results. Check this out:
http://www.cpcn.com/articles/040600/cs.coverstory1.shtml “For instance, Maryland passed a one-gun-a-month law in 1995. While the number of legally sold guns has declined, the state’s largest city, Baltimore, continues to have a staggering murder rate almost twice as high as Philadelphia’s.
Maryland’s law was based on Virginia’s one-gun-a-month statute, which passed in 1993. Subsequent studies showed that while that flow of illegal guns exported from Virginia to other states had been curtailed, urban gun crime was unaffected. In fact, the homicide rate in the state capital of Richmond rocketed to its highest level ever one year after one-gun-a-month passed.Richmond, then, is arguably the best case of how gun law enforcement has succeeded where gun-control laws have failed. A city of just 203,000 people, Richmond is one-seventh the size of Philadelphia. Its ghettos are not nearly so large nor so desperate as Philadelphia’s, but for its size, Richmond is a far more violent place. Particularly in the impoverished, largely African-American sections of Richmond, gun violence was out of control for much of the 1990s. By 1996, with a homicide toll of 140, Richmond’s murder rate was among the 10 highest in urban America — more than twice as high as Philadelphia’s and five times higher than New York City’s.
Hundreds of felons with guns were indicted during Exile’s first year alone, and by the middle of 1998, Richmond’s overall violent crime had fallen 60 percent. ...There have also been only 11 murders in Richmond in the first quarter of the year, compared with 20 killings by March 31 a year ago. If the first-quarter rate holds up over the entire year (like it did in 1999), Richmond will have its lowest murder rate since 1970.”Is it going to work in Philadelphia? Yes, it looks like it will.
“Since January 1999, the federally funded Operation Cease Fire program has hauled more than 300 of Philadelphia’s most egregious gun offenders off the streets and into federal court. In 1999 alone, gun possession indictments by the U.S. Attorney’s Office here more than quintupled from 1998. Out of 173 gun cases disposed of, only one defendant was acquitted, while 149 others simply pleaded guilty and went straight to federal prison.
Philadelphia’s rates of shootings and killings have been dropping steadily since Cease Fire’s launch 15 months ago. And although no one can be certain what role Cease Fire has played in making the city a safer place, it’s hard to imagine how so many dangerous characters could be put out of action without making some impact on crime. The only other program in the country like Cease Fire — Richmond, Virginia’s three-year-old Project Exile — has been widely credited with helping cut that city’s murder rate almost in half.”
Take the guns away from the CRIMINALS! Oh, what a concept!
Put DUI drivers IN JAIL! (They sure won't ram a 80 MPH Chevy into anyone in there!)
Leave the law-abiding folks alone! ANOTHER great concept! And totally in accordance with the spirit that led to the foundation of the US....and that pesky Constitution!
