Vonderek
Member
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2006
- Messages
- 1,537
I just watched a segment on CNN this morning where a doctor opined on guns being a public health issue, blah blah. I wrote an email to CNN afterwards which follows. I know some here may have issue with some of the points made but anyway, here it is. Will they read it or care? I don't know but I felt I had to write it.
Interesting segment on guns and doctors today in the 9:30AM block. I am a person who wants to hear all sides of a story and was surprised that your anchor pointed out the inconvenient truth that most reporters neglect when telling the audience: that of the total number of gun deaths a majority are suicides.
There are however a few points not mentioned you should consider in this overall debate:
1) Studies have shown that people who commit suicide will use a means convenient to them. In other words, the guns involved do not contribute to the suicide except as a means. Remove the gun from the equation and those intent on ending their own lives will usually choose another way.
2) Comparing traffic accident deaths and gun deaths make for an impactful visual chart and talking point but is an apples-to-oranges comparison. A car is a tool designed for transportation while a gun by-and-large is a tool designed for killing. Few people get in a car intending to run someone over while most homicides with a gun are by criminals intending to kill with a gun (obviously this does not include justifiable homicides when the law-abiding are forced to use a gun for protection.) A more apt comparison would be to compare traffic accident deaths to gun accident deaths. Accidental firearm deaths are at a 100-year low despite the millions of additional people in the population and millions of additional firearms in circulation. To argue that firearms manufacturers need to make their guns "safer" is a ludicrous statement. Their products are full of safety features to prevent accidental discharge and function as intended. Any accidental deaths in this day and age are caused by the mishandling of firearms. If a person keeps their finger off the trigger and the gun pointed in a safe direction there is no chance of an accident. Guns do not "go off" by themselves.
3) When interviewing the doctor, I would have liked your chart to include deaths by "medical mistakes", a preventable cause of death in the United States that claims upwards of 100,000 lives annually...more than the number of deaths by traffic accidents and firearms combined. I would have liked to hear her explanation about that and what the medical community is doing to reduce that number. Since "medical mistakes" have a much greater human and dollar cost to society, it is probably a subject of more importance...albeit one with less sensationalism and emotion...than the current firearms debate.
Interesting segment on guns and doctors today in the 9:30AM block. I am a person who wants to hear all sides of a story and was surprised that your anchor pointed out the inconvenient truth that most reporters neglect when telling the audience: that of the total number of gun deaths a majority are suicides.
There are however a few points not mentioned you should consider in this overall debate:
1) Studies have shown that people who commit suicide will use a means convenient to them. In other words, the guns involved do not contribute to the suicide except as a means. Remove the gun from the equation and those intent on ending their own lives will usually choose another way.
2) Comparing traffic accident deaths and gun deaths make for an impactful visual chart and talking point but is an apples-to-oranges comparison. A car is a tool designed for transportation while a gun by-and-large is a tool designed for killing. Few people get in a car intending to run someone over while most homicides with a gun are by criminals intending to kill with a gun (obviously this does not include justifiable homicides when the law-abiding are forced to use a gun for protection.) A more apt comparison would be to compare traffic accident deaths to gun accident deaths. Accidental firearm deaths are at a 100-year low despite the millions of additional people in the population and millions of additional firearms in circulation. To argue that firearms manufacturers need to make their guns "safer" is a ludicrous statement. Their products are full of safety features to prevent accidental discharge and function as intended. Any accidental deaths in this day and age are caused by the mishandling of firearms. If a person keeps their finger off the trigger and the gun pointed in a safe direction there is no chance of an accident. Guns do not "go off" by themselves.
3) When interviewing the doctor, I would have liked your chart to include deaths by "medical mistakes", a preventable cause of death in the United States that claims upwards of 100,000 lives annually...more than the number of deaths by traffic accidents and firearms combined. I would have liked to hear her explanation about that and what the medical community is doing to reduce that number. Since "medical mistakes" have a much greater human and dollar cost to society, it is probably a subject of more importance...albeit one with less sensationalism and emotion...than the current firearms debate.
