T
Th:J
Guest
The Children's Crusade by Th:J
People are terrible judges of risk.
This is a universal truth, but even more so for children, whose history of terrible decisions prove the necessity of restrictions on them. Because of children's history of bad decision making we restrict their access to automobiles, alcohol and firearms. We also restrict their access to voting. We do these things because we love our children. Children need time to gain the experience and maturity of adults - and even then as adults we accept that people are still poor judges of risk.
So why are grown adults now giving credence to the opinions of children on gun control? Maybe because rage trumps the simple analysis of risk, or perhaps because those who desire gun control assume strident cries from children will drown out reason and analysis. Children care about their own losses; very few of them have learned to care about the losses of others.
The simple truth is you are more likely to die from lightning¹ than a mass shooting in the United States.
Upset children raging over lightning strikes would be laughed off, because there isn't a liberal 1% lightning control lobby.
Perhaps we should find a better use for all of this rage. Instead of less than a hundred mass shooting deaths a year:
3,092 people were killed and 330,000 people were maimed by impaired drivers chatting on car phones last year² - a very large number of them happen to be very young drivers. Where's the children's rage at a failure they share?
52,000 people will die of Opioids this year³, as many as died in the entire Vietnam war- Where's the children's rage?
255,000 people will die this year from preventable medical errors nationwide. ᵝ Where's the children's rage?
650,000 people will die from the abuse of Tobacco and Alcohol, ᵟ many of them underage users. Where's the rage?
650,000 people will die from their rotten eating habits and lack of exercise, ᵟ many of them parents. Where's the rage?
The simple fact is that we are a 'free country' and part of being 'free' is people having the opportunity to make very bad decisions, and some of those decisions hurt other people. Only if we become a dictatorship can we eliminate these acts.
Now let us consider our fine government and how great it currently is.
The US Supreme court has found repeatedly that you have no right to protection by the police. ᶿ Where's the rage?
The US Supreme court has found that police can actively interfere with citizens saving a life. ᶵ Where's the children's rage?
The US Supreme court has found that one citizen has no responsibility to protect another. ᶺ Where's the children's rage?
You are three times more likely to be murdered (not a justified shooting) by police than a concealed gun permit holder. ῏
You are eight times more likely to be shot by the authorities than a terrorist.ᶶ Where is our children's rage?
The utter failure of our government to do its' job has not become the end of the American way of life precisely because we have a second amendment in our bill of rights and it affirms we have the right to bear arms and defend ourselves.
This is not a privilage, it is a right as sacred as free speech or the right to worship as you please, and no amount of screaming children can change those statistics or those legal decisions I am mentioning above. Any real change can only come when all of us feel rage at the massive failures of our government and the failures in ourselves.
When some of that misplaced childhood rage at their extremely unlikely misfortune gets applied to the enormous, ubiquitous and far more numerous problems of our society, perhaps a children's crusade will be worth listening to.
¹ NOAA 2018
² NTSB/NHTSA 2017, CBS news 12/2/02
³ AP news 12/9/16, CBS News 12/21/17
ᵝ Mayo Clinic, NEJM 1/13/17
ᵟ Nat'l Research Council & Inst of Medicine Sept 2015
ᶿ Warren v. DC and Castle Rock v. Gonzalez
ᶵ Sinthasomphone v. Milwaukee
ᶺ People v. Beardsley
῏ Gun Watch 10/7/13
ᶶ CATO institute 8/10/12
People are terrible judges of risk.
This is a universal truth, but even more so for children, whose history of terrible decisions prove the necessity of restrictions on them. Because of children's history of bad decision making we restrict their access to automobiles, alcohol and firearms. We also restrict their access to voting. We do these things because we love our children. Children need time to gain the experience and maturity of adults - and even then as adults we accept that people are still poor judges of risk.
So why are grown adults now giving credence to the opinions of children on gun control? Maybe because rage trumps the simple analysis of risk, or perhaps because those who desire gun control assume strident cries from children will drown out reason and analysis. Children care about their own losses; very few of them have learned to care about the losses of others.
The simple truth is you are more likely to die from lightning¹ than a mass shooting in the United States.
Upset children raging over lightning strikes would be laughed off, because there isn't a liberal 1% lightning control lobby.
Perhaps we should find a better use for all of this rage. Instead of less than a hundred mass shooting deaths a year:
3,092 people were killed and 330,000 people were maimed by impaired drivers chatting on car phones last year² - a very large number of them happen to be very young drivers. Where's the children's rage at a failure they share?
52,000 people will die of Opioids this year³, as many as died in the entire Vietnam war- Where's the children's rage?
255,000 people will die this year from preventable medical errors nationwide. ᵝ Where's the children's rage?
650,000 people will die from the abuse of Tobacco and Alcohol, ᵟ many of them underage users. Where's the rage?
650,000 people will die from their rotten eating habits and lack of exercise, ᵟ many of them parents. Where's the rage?
The simple fact is that we are a 'free country' and part of being 'free' is people having the opportunity to make very bad decisions, and some of those decisions hurt other people. Only if we become a dictatorship can we eliminate these acts.
Now let us consider our fine government and how great it currently is.
The US Supreme court has found repeatedly that you have no right to protection by the police. ᶿ Where's the rage?
The US Supreme court has found that police can actively interfere with citizens saving a life. ᶵ Where's the children's rage?
The US Supreme court has found that one citizen has no responsibility to protect another. ᶺ Where's the children's rage?
You are three times more likely to be murdered (not a justified shooting) by police than a concealed gun permit holder. ῏
You are eight times more likely to be shot by the authorities than a terrorist.ᶶ Where is our children's rage?
The utter failure of our government to do its' job has not become the end of the American way of life precisely because we have a second amendment in our bill of rights and it affirms we have the right to bear arms and defend ourselves.
This is not a privilage, it is a right as sacred as free speech or the right to worship as you please, and no amount of screaming children can change those statistics or those legal decisions I am mentioning above. Any real change can only come when all of us feel rage at the massive failures of our government and the failures in ourselves.
When some of that misplaced childhood rage at their extremely unlikely misfortune gets applied to the enormous, ubiquitous and far more numerous problems of our society, perhaps a children's crusade will be worth listening to.
¹ NOAA 2018
² NTSB/NHTSA 2017, CBS news 12/2/02
³ AP news 12/9/16, CBS News 12/21/17
ᵝ Mayo Clinic, NEJM 1/13/17
ᵟ Nat'l Research Council & Inst of Medicine Sept 2015
ᶿ Warren v. DC and Castle Rock v. Gonzalez
ᶵ Sinthasomphone v. Milwaukee
ᶺ People v. Beardsley
῏ Gun Watch 10/7/13
ᶶ CATO institute 8/10/12
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