Vamo, the purpose of "more people are killed by X each year than by guns" is to put the number of deaths into perspective. Anti-gunners go on and on about the number of people killed by guns each year and how it's this pandemic that needs to be stopped by any means necessary. The fact of the matter is that there are many other places or things (i.e. pools, hospitals, cars, etc) that lead to many more deaths each year than guns do. However, how many people are campaigning for further regulations on hospitals, pools, or cars? A few people probably are, but you don't have a huge movement backed by mayors, governors, senators, and the President and billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars put into efforts to try and improve it. At least not that the media is reporting.
It's just like when they put restrictions on AR-15s and similar rifles, which are used for a few hundred out of the around ten thousand gun deaths each year (much rounding involved in that statement). The point of these "More people are killed by X" is to show that the number of people killed by guns isn't all that high in context, and it's not such a big pandemic that we need to pass off-the-cuff emotional legislation.
either way, they exist b/c of each other somehow. The particulars about which came first would probably be chicken/egg like and not too relevant now. They are both here, neither going away soon.
