Fun With Guns: You Know, Because More Guns Make For a Safer Society Edition
Holy cow, y’all.
Come find out, we’re killing a lot of people.
Motor vehicle accidents used to be the leading cause of death in this county. But not in Missouri —
Firearms proved more deadly, and by a wide margin — 880 to 781 — according to the most recent federal data available. And Missouri appears to be a harbinger of things to come.
Some experts predict that for the first time in decades, firearms will kill more people nationwide this year than motor vehicles.
And the reason why traffic deaths have decreased dramatically?
Advocates credit seat belts, padded dashboards, airbags, highway median guard cables and road-edge rumble strips, among other things.
But God forbid that we talk about putting better safety mechanisms on guns! Because FREEDOM!
Thanks to Carl for the heads up.
I can just imagine the chants of “We’re No. 1!” echoing through NRA headquarters.
1And us youngsters remember when our aunts and uncles refused to wear seatbelts because they might not be able to get out of a crashed car.
2Just imagine for a moment… if the NRA did for car and truck ownership what they’ve done for gun ownership.
It wouldn’t be safe to drive, or walk…
That’s not even considering what it would be like if both car ownership AND gun ownership was unregulated. An NRA reality would make Mad Max look like a Jane Austen costume drama.
3Okay, where’s the graphic novelist here?
4Rick – As a bicyclist in Houston, I can assure you that it’s not safe to even ride on the sidewalks, much less the roads. Too many folks with smartphones to their ears, ignoring signs like “STOP” or “No Right Turn On Red”, much less the younger folks with earbuds stuffed in their ears and the music turned up so loud you can hear it 100′ away…
I’m glad I’m not able to read minds, because with the majority of them I’d simply find a “This Space Left Intentionally Blank” message.
5Which is why all gun owners must not only be licensed, registered AND insured. When they display criminal negligence or intent, their guns should be confiscated.
6Expect the NRA arguement to run something like ‘there is no credible study that demonstrates a causal link between gun safety devices and lowering gun deaths’….and by the way, you can’t collect any data or do any studies to show the link.
7@maryelle
8That is a nice parallel.
I’ve been saying for years that the best way to curb gun violence is to require everyone to maintain insurance on their firearms.
This doesn’t infringe on the right to bear arms. Anyone can have a firearm. You just have to have insurance. Just as you have to have car insurance to drive a car.
Yay free market.
Insurance companies will quickly price much of the crazy out of the market.
9My fantasy is that they will invent guns that can only shoot other people who are holding guns.
10New NRA slogan-Number 1 with a bullet!
11As someone who once worked for a very, very large insurance company, I think mark j is totally on to something!
12@LynnN, your idea of guns that only fire at other people with guns sounds interesting, but then how are the police gonna kill unarmed citizens? Major flaw in your idea if you ask me.
13Ummm, that last comment was snark, just in case it wasn’t clear.
14@margie,
Thanks. The idea isn’t original to me, but I really think it has merit. Insurance companies are great at one thing — assessing risk. They excel at that. And they would be great at pricing mandatory firearm insurance policies to assess risk. No gun safe and small children? High risk, high premium. Mental health issues? High risk, high premium. Teenage children? High risk, high premium (just like car insurance, ‘cuz those kids be crazy). No annual gun safety course? Higher premium.
You get the idea. While this wouldn’t stop the bad, bad guys, it would help to price some of the worst and most reckless out of the market.
15I got nuttin’. I live in DC, where the citizenry voted overwhelmingly to ban hand guns in the city back in 1976. I actually don’t know anybody here who has a gun. Makes me sleep better at night, for some reason.
The gun nuts in Congress, helped by their accomplices on the Supreme Court, want to change all that. I think we should simply get rid of the metal detectors on Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court and all the federal buildings, while we’re at it.
I mean, if one can openly carry a gun in any public space, then what’s more public than the offices of our elected leaders?
16@BarbinDC,
Interesting, insn’t it, that the open carry nuts in our state governments always seem to decide that open carry is too dangerous for their workplace. But not for mine or yours, of course.
17mark j, its been a loooong time since I worked in the insurance industry (thank God!) but as I recall they asked some very pointed questions of an applicant such as do you indulge in any of the following: sky diving, parasailing, automobile racing, competitive skiing? Have you ever been arrested/convicted on charges of any sort of violence as in fist fighting or using any sort of weapon? Yes to one or all of these would get you a policy only Bill Gates could afford. Or you would hear, “nice to have met you – buh bye.” Seriously, gun nuts pretty much don’t go anywhere near personal policy insurance companies cuz they think their weaponry is insurance enough. They never think of the hazard they dump on their survivors who can’t afford to bury these cretins and must default the body to a pauper’s grave, which might not be the worst of it as there is a mountain of debt to deal with. All them guns cost money!
18Maggie, the idea behind mandatory gun insurance is twofold.
First, it makes gun ownership more expensive. Particularly for those who are irresponsible and probably shouldn’t have a gun in the first place. Just as car insurance is incredibly expensive for people with a DUI, gun insurance would be more expensive for those with a criminal record for example. And the penalties for failing to carry insurance on a weapon should be prohibitively steep (mandatory jail time, for instance).
Second, gun insurance would provide financial resources to those who are victims of gun violence who could file a claim just as those involved in an auto accident do.
Of course, there is always Chris Rock’s plan to make guns cheap but bullets very expensive. $5,000 for each bullet. That way you know if someone got shot, they probably had it coming. You can do a youtube search for his gun control comedy routine, which is hilarious. (Not you, Mama, ‘cuz he uses inappropriate language.)
19Hold the last legal documented owner responsible, for mis-use of hand gun and/or failure to carry proper liability insurance.
20We’ve got too many people for the world’s resources. So I just call this cleansing the gene pool.
21