mr.72
June 24, 2008, 12:00 PM
but it occurred to me today while driving to work.
I read the column by the Mayor of Atlanta with references to "gun violence" and how many people were "killed by guns". Rights advocates may typically point out that it is not the gun which killed these people, but it was other people who killed them. Guns are not violent, they are inanimate objects.
Similarly we know that many deaths each year are ruled as traffic fatalities. In fact, over 40,000 people each year are killed in a traffic incident, nearly twice the number who are killed in an incident involving a gun. During most of these incidents, a car was involved. So we might reasonably say that if guns are the cause of the "gun deaths", then cars are the cause of the "traffic deaths". So by the same logic, those who really want to save lives, especially those of children, who almost never own or drive a car and therefore are merely innocent victims, should seek to ban the automobile from private ownership and use. You can own a car, but you cannot use it outside your home. Law enforcement can of course have cars.
The same argument applies here as well. If we outlaw cars, then only outlaws will have cars. My best defense against an assailant in a car is my own car. If only outlaws have cars, then while all of us law-abiding citizens are walking down the street to work or school or wherever we are going, then there is nothing to prevent a maniac from illegally running us all down in his car. We would have to await the police to show up in their cars, since we would all be defenseless against the assailant with his car. However if each of us is in our own car, then we are on equal footing. The assailant cannot just knock out dozens of us at a time. He has to challenge us one car at a time.
Since cars "cause" twice the number of deaths each year as do guns, then it only makes sense that those who seek to ban guns should endeavor with double the urgency to ban cars. However as I have illustrated, while the rate of deaths due to cars will definitely dramatically decrease upon banning cars, many law-abiding people will be made defenseless against one who might seek to use a car to commit a crime.
The same exact thing is true for guns.
My best defense against a criminal with a gun is my own gun. If I am deprived of my own gun, then criminals have the ability to overpower me at will just as if we were all deprived of our cars and walking defenselessly down the street.
I read the column by the Mayor of Atlanta with references to "gun violence" and how many people were "killed by guns". Rights advocates may typically point out that it is not the gun which killed these people, but it was other people who killed them. Guns are not violent, they are inanimate objects.
Similarly we know that many deaths each year are ruled as traffic fatalities. In fact, over 40,000 people each year are killed in a traffic incident, nearly twice the number who are killed in an incident involving a gun. During most of these incidents, a car was involved. So we might reasonably say that if guns are the cause of the "gun deaths", then cars are the cause of the "traffic deaths". So by the same logic, those who really want to save lives, especially those of children, who almost never own or drive a car and therefore are merely innocent victims, should seek to ban the automobile from private ownership and use. You can own a car, but you cannot use it outside your home. Law enforcement can of course have cars.
The same argument applies here as well. If we outlaw cars, then only outlaws will have cars. My best defense against an assailant in a car is my own car. If only outlaws have cars, then while all of us law-abiding citizens are walking down the street to work or school or wherever we are going, then there is nothing to prevent a maniac from illegally running us all down in his car. We would have to await the police to show up in their cars, since we would all be defenseless against the assailant with his car. However if each of us is in our own car, then we are on equal footing. The assailant cannot just knock out dozens of us at a time. He has to challenge us one car at a time.
Since cars "cause" twice the number of deaths each year as do guns, then it only makes sense that those who seek to ban guns should endeavor with double the urgency to ban cars. However as I have illustrated, while the rate of deaths due to cars will definitely dramatically decrease upon banning cars, many law-abiding people will be made defenseless against one who might seek to use a car to commit a crime.
The same exact thing is true for guns.
My best defense against a criminal with a gun is my own gun. If I am deprived of my own gun, then criminals have the ability to overpower me at will just as if we were all deprived of our cars and walking defenselessly down the street.
