[Dilettante]

Unlike many people here, I can still remember what it was like to be afraid of guns. In fact, I only started shooting this year.
The sense of "Oh my God, these things are supposed to be really deadly" goes away pretty quickly.
Now I find myself explaining to my liberal friends why it isn't weird to go shooting.
Recently I've been thinking about other dangerous things that we use everyday. The one that always comes up is cars, probably because they kill 4 or 5 times as many Americans as guns do. (By the way, all of the gun owners I've met so far have been much more careful with guns that the typical driver is on the road. :fire: I do know that not all gun owners are that responsible, but I plan to stick to people who are!)

So forget about cars. That analogy is old. I'm looking for other things that a lot of people use, without thinking about it, but we know that you have to follow certain rules.
Somebody mentioned swimming pools recently.
Toxic glues and solvents.
Electricity.
Stairs. For healthy people from 4 to 80 or so, this doesn't get a second thought. But your strength or coordination starts to go, every trip up or down can be a risky adventure.
Aspirin and other drugs. Often this has to do with small children taking too many; but some other drugs are dangerous if you (a) take too much, (b) take them too close together, (c) take certain other drugs, (d) are allergic to the drug, (e) get the same effect from a smaller dose of the drug (there can be a lot of reasons for this, like body weight, metabolism, slightly different receptors, etc.)

Does anyone have a new or unusual nominee?
Anyone with young children at home? :)

[greyhound]

Power tools. Also ties in with the "gun=tool" argument...

[Mike Irwin]

Having come close to amputating a finger many years ago, kitchen knives.

Gas appliances.

A biggie, though?

Over the counter medications.

Read some of the research on what tylenol can do to your liver if you're not careful.

[hksw]

Doctors (medical professionals)

[Dilettante]

Doctors (medical professionals)

You are absolutley right, but unfortunately, most people don't realize how risky they are!! ;) :uhoh:

[4v50 Gary]

Motor vehicle. Despite being licensed and insured, and their operators licensed (for the most part) more peepul killed by them than by guns every year. But, you said forget about cars.

OK, how about benign things like swimming pools & drowning? If Gawd wanted man to swim like a fish, he'd give us gills.

How about food? Every now & then someone chokes to death yet no one thinks of suing the farmer and everyone else in the chain of distribution.

Then there's mankind and his self destructive ways. I'm not talking about wars or shootings. I'm talking about foolish things like living in an earthquake zone or near an active volcano, hurricane country or tornado alley. Why don't we just move to where it's safer. You'd think we'd have the sense to abandon our homes and communities to go where it's safe but NO, we stay where it's dangerous. :rolleyes: Finally, there's the greatest evil of them all. Exposure to TV and other forms of biased and mind numbing media. Kills the mind and makes non-thinking zombies out of a large chunk of the population.

'Scuse me, my favorite TV show is on and I'm going down to Macy's to watch it. ;)

[shermacman]

Have fun with this one:
http://www.mercola.com/2000/jul/30/doctors_death.htm

Doctors are the third largest cause of death in the US.:what:

[geekWithA.45]

My Personal Favorite:

Chainsaws.

Keep em away from the kids.
If they weren't dangerous, they wouldn't be useful.

[45R]

Feinstein......:fire:

[Standing Wolf]

The sense of "Oh my God, these things are supposed to be really deadly" goes away pretty quickly.

In my experience, safe shooters outgrow the "oh, my God" part, but never forget the "really deadly" part. It's insidiously easy to master the firing of firearms—they include the original point and click user interface, after all—without mastering the understanding that these are specifically designed and manufactured to be deadly weapons.

I used to shoot once in a great while at a range in Milpitas, The People's Republic of California where many of the shooters were able to point and click, but didn't seem to have realized how easily they could have killed people—me, for example.

End of safety rant from old timer.

I don't know of anything more dangerous than leftist politicians. Cars and chain saws and swimming pools and over the counter pills and the like can kill us individually, but leftist politicians are actively and wittingly engaged in attempting to kill our entire nation.

[Scyvthe]

How about food? Every now & then someone chokes to death yet no one thinks of suing the farmer and everyone else in the chain of distribution.

Forget choking, think about how many people die of heart attacks each year because of food. Has anyone ever won a lawsuit against a fast food restaurant because they were selling a "dangerous" product?

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

You're corrrect, Mike; Tylenol (and other generic acetomenophen-containing products) can kill your liver with a quite surprisingly small dose. Other categories worth a mention:


Bathtubs and shower stalls.

Falls, in general.

Hypothermia and hyperthermia, irregardless of the season.

Hot Dogs, among other edibles.

Legal and illegal drug overdoses, intentional and accidental. When combined with alcohol, higher rates of mortality are recorded.

5 gallon plastic 'pickle buckets' are exceedingly hazardous for toddlers, who can drown in them and do every year.

Automobile airbags.

Plastic drinking straws, pens, pencils and other objects accidently swallowed.

Bicycles, skates, skateboards.

High school football.

Intoxication by water or ethanol.

Carbon monoxide poisoning from faulty gas appliances, central or kerosene heaters, poorly vented fireplaces and (!) charcoal grills used indoors.

See also these links for enhancement:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005124.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0110390.html

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005110.html

http://www.ouchystickers.com/facts2.htm

Regards,
Rabbit.

[S_O_Laban]

Little league baseball, seeing how many marshmellows you can stuff in your mouth at one time:uhoh: working with horses and yes, the oft discussed family dog gone bad.

[Ian Sean]

Gee Whiz!! Nobody mentioned matches or lighters?

[Mark Tyson]

Television ... the Vast Wasteland, the Great Satan. You know how many fires are started by television? And that's not even going into the effects that sedentary constant watching can have on your health.

[kenehsr]

Don't forget about plastic bags, or easy to swallow small legos and change.I have a pool so I have to watch that all the time. Someone could easily slip on the wet deck or even try to diving into the swallow end and hitting thier head on the bottom.

[ojibweindian]

Christmas trees and a bad string of lights. Lawnmowers. Bush hogs. Tractors.

[AJ Dual]

I knew someone would beat me to doctors. DOJ and NIH stats show medical malpractice has killed up to 3 times as many as all gun death in the U.S., and when it's limited to accidental gun death it's more like 9 times...

But otherwise, how about swimming pools? I know they at least kill more children. i.e. "real children" under 18, not VPC/Brady "children" over 21...

[seeker_two]

Liberal politicians & attorney generals in Washington DC (read the Waco/Ruby Ridge thread...:fire: )

[muddyboots]

Horses. Sorry, cowboys, but you know it's true.

[DMK]

Just to put the statistics of other deaths in perspective, just how many people are killed by guns in the U.S. every year, including accidents, murder, self defense, and suicide?

[Edward429451]

Gas appliances.

Gas Appliances are very similar to guns in that most people are absolutely terrified of them b/c they know so little about them. The reality of it is that usually , you have to be really really doing something highly stupid to get into trouble with gas. This would include not having them checked annually by a competant service person.

999 out of 1000 gas appliances that emit Carbon Monoxide (CO), are emitting CO because they are dirty and have not been serviced and cleaned regularly. What happens is that dust is drawn into the air intakes, sticks and collects which restricts further air intake. The air/gas mixture is thrown off giving you incomplete combustion (it don't burn all the carbon) and deposits this carbon as soot within your furnace, further restricting flow and venting action and consequently starts venting this CO into your home. There are other causes of CO, but this is the biggest cause of CO from a gas appliance...

Heating season is upon us real soon. If your unit is 2 years old or more, have it serviced annually. Remember that even if it checks out OK by your service person, that it could manifest a problem after he leaves!!! Having it serviced is not a blanket guarentee that it'll not have any problems. If in doubt and wish peace of mind, A CO detector is in order. The ONLY brand of CO detector that I've not seen a false alarm from is a "Nighthawk" brand, available at your local Wally World. I recommend two, one by the unit in the mechanical room, and another for in the hallway where the bedrooms are.



"Whats in YOUR furnace?" I'll cut a good deal to any THR'er that (lives reasonably close) is in Colorado and wishes their unit serviced and checked out for the upcoming heating season. This is what I do. Licensed, insured, blah, blah blah..

Note; Propane gas is much more dangerous than Natural gas, being heavier than air it will fall and pool on the ground and STAY THERE. Unlike Natural gas which is lighter than air so will rise and exfiltrate out of the house through cracks & crevices. Questins are welcome, PM me.:)

[Hutch]

DMK, nobody is killed BY a gun. That's Schumer-talk. They may well be killed WITH a gun, however. How many, I know not.

Another thing that "everyone knows" is deadly-scary is nuclear power. Right? I mean, look at all the gazillions that have been killed in commercial nuclear power plant accidents in this country. Satire aside, ask a coal miner's widow how dangerous nuclear power is.

[Elmer Snerd]

Just to put the statistics of other deaths in perspective, just how many people are killed by guns in the U.S. every year, including accidents, murder, self defense, and suicide?
According to the CDC Mortality Reports (http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html):

Total gun deaths in 2000(all intents, firearm, all ages): 28,663.
As above, to and including age 17: 1,544.
Age 10: 146.

Total motor vehicle deaths(all intents, motor vehicle overall, all ages): 43,604.

[KC]

-Peanut butter
-Smoking
-McDonald's
-Swimming pools
-yapping on a cell phone while driving your super-sized SUV down the freeway at 35mph or 80mph (about equally dangerous)
-Being left-handed and working in a machine shop
-Working in non-managerial roles in a shipyard
-water heaters plumbed by some cretin after getting the 15-min intensive course on the subject at Home Depot
-working on a farm, esp. for juveniles
-improperly prepared fugu

[DigitalWarrior]

The president was nearly offed by a pretzel.

[Dave Markowitz]

Drano/Liquid Plumber, etc. Mostly lye.

Ammonia.

Bleach.

Ammonia + bleach = chlorine gas. :uhoh:

[gun-fucious]

Buckets!
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5006.jpg

Large buckets and young children can be a deadly combination. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has received reports of over 275 young children who have drowned in buckets since 1984. Over 30 other children have been hospitalized. Almost all of the containers were 5-gallon buckets containing liquids. Most were used for mopping floors or other household chores. Many were less than half full.

http://www.msnbc.com/local/mcallen/M289432.asp
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5006.html
http://www.cpsc.gov/trans/drown.html

[gun-fucious]

you can run mortality queries here:
http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html

[mwithers72]

lets see here. I think that I should find a hloe to hide in cause i live in a house that 2 sets of stairs, with a pool, I use plastic over paper, i own guns, i drive a car and sometimes a truck, i talk on a cell phone, I use buckets in the gerage, I have a riding mower and my back yard is a slope, I use a chainsaw, I installed my last water heater, I take baths, ..........geeeezzzz SOMEONE HELP ME :neener:

all joke'n aside gerage doors can kill if the sensor (sp?) is not working

[STW]

Five-gallon buckets

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5006.html

[Carlos Cabeza]

GODFORBID ! ! The Deadly CHAINSAW !!!!!! No honest man needs a chainsaw with more than a 24" bar !!!! Chainsaws need triggerlocks, Oh wait, they already do...........to lock them ON !!!! BBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZ !!!:D

[Detachment Charlie]

Cows With Guns

[Brian Dale]

Thanks, Sylvilagus Aquaticus (- about falls -)

Ladders! Old ladders can wobble or break, and poor placement can hurt you (remember your 4-to-1 ratio BETWEEN the height of the top of the ladder AND the distance from the base of wall to the base of the ladder. For example, if a ladder is leaning against a wall and the top of the ladder is 20 feet above the ground, the base should be 5 feet away from the wall).

Kitchens and Bathrooms, especially slippery kitchen and bathroom floors and bathtubs. Boiling water on the stove.

These things are more dangerous because we're so used to them. It's easy to forget caution around everyday household things. That's how people die. And Yes, I've been a HazMat person and a chemist (handling dioxin every day in a testing lab), and I'm a volunteer firefighter. In the lab and on the fireground, I'm aware that it's dangerous, and I've never been hurt in a laboratory on an emergency call (or, of course, around firearms, for that matter). On the other hand, I was badly injured years ago by a moment's inattention when replacing a 9x12 inch window pane on a beautiful summer day. The worst injury I ever saw in a lab was to an employee whose hand was deeply cut by broken glassware in a sink of soapy water.

Awareness matters.

[williamcrane]

Food! Since Americans are becoming increasingly obese, food should be strictly regulated. Maybe establish a limit of one meal a month.

[Mikul]

Long story short:
- knives
- glass
- ice cubes

Longer:
I've only been in a position to die, or so I thought, twice in my life.

The first involved an ice cube. I swallowed a large one whole. It stuck in my throat and I couldn't breathe for almost two minutes until it melted enough to continue on it's way, albeit painfully.

The second was a large knife that landed point down in my wrist and severed an artery. I was shooting blood for distance with that one.

I've seen some nasty injuries from glass in my life.

[Fly320s]

Let's just sum it up...

Everything.

Any questions?

[Partisan Ranger]

I don't have the exact stats on hand, but I have read in good sources that a hell of a lot of people die from improper prescription drugs and medical mistakes in general. Yet, no one tells us to avoid doctors or medicines.

[TamThompson]

Did someone already mention fast-food, given that obesity is now the #1 killer in America? (NOTE: NO, I'm not in favor of suing the fast food companys. I don't support that--I think people should...GASP...be responsible about their diet and exercise!)

Best argument I can think of against registering guns is that automobiles are already:
1. Registered
2. Inspected
3. Driver licensed
4. Driver insured

And yet we STILL have lots of folks every year who will misuse an automobile as a deadly weapon, intentionally killing others with it. Why, oh why, does anyone think gun registration would be any different?

Oh, but we were talking about things that kill people.
My take? We are a war-like, aggressive species by nature. (I'm not saying that's a good thing, just stating what I've observed.)
PEOPLE WITH BAD INTENT WILL MISUSE ANYTHING THEY CAN GET THEIR HANDS ON.

[TamThompson]

Ohmigosh, I hit "Caps Lock" off and my post got posted and I wasn't done!

My final point:

Has anyone but me noticed the huge upswing in the sale of medieval weapons in places that ban guns? I keep hearing these stories of sword sales being up in places like UK, Aussie-land, etc. I'm sure they're way up in California and NYC, too. Take guns away, and people will use other means.

[telomerase]

>I'm looking for other things that a lot of people use, without thinking about it, but we know that you have to follow certain rules.

Ethidium bromide? alpha-dCTP P32? Adenovirus with T antigen gene? Everything I can see from this computer fits that description. Except the "without thinking about it" part...

[BallisticTip]

How About Falling Coconuts Kill !
http://unisci.com/stories/20022/0523024.htm