20,000 gun laws on books local, state, federal would seem to be a "have we done anything for guns" start.a fan wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2024 3:42 pmYou're forgetting the rest of the metaphor.WaffleTwineFaceoff wrote: ↑Sun Jul 14, 2024 3:18 pmIn the last 24 hours, 14 innocent Americans were killed by the 37 drunk drivers who died. Tomorrow will be the same. Every day will be the same. Statistically speaking. Therefore American society should not be allowed to own vehicles.
Just off the top of my head......
-we have added thousands of safety standards for cars, mandated.
-invented air bags and many other safety features (have guns done that?)
-must register your car with State. This is VERY expensive, and registration expires. Meaning MORE money.
-added speed limits and a whole mess of traffic laws that fill an entire booklet, and hand out expensive tickets when even minor rules are broken.
-mandated very expensive liability insurance
-added drunk driving laws
-have to take an exam to prove you can drive one. And you must retake this exam periodically.
-more intensive exams for bigger vehicles
-added regulations for folks driving larger vehicles.
Have we done anything anywhere close to the same for guns?
This is a very, very, very bad argument, my friend.
Argue this:
TODAY IN THE USA: Approximately 1,500 reported cases of Aggravated Assault were filed. ANNUAL FIGURES: Approximately 550,000 filed cases, with FBI estimating the actual figure is much higher, as approximately 40% of cases go unreported.
TODAY IN THE USA:
Approximately 1,700 home invasions with victim (owner/renter/guest) present inside home. ANNUAL FIGURES: Approximately 627,000.
TODAY IN THE USA:
Approximately 1,100 women were raped or sexually assaulted. ANNUAL FIGURES: Approximately 400,000.
TODAY IN THE USA:
Approximately 110 men and boys were raped or sexually assaulted. ANNUAL FIGURES: Approximately 40,000.
TODAY IN THE USA:
Approximately 20,000 calls were placed to domestic violence hotlines. ANNUAL Figures: > 7,000,000
TODAY IN THE USA:
Approximately 1,000 children went missing. And approximately 300 children ages 4-15 became sexually trafficked (sexual slavery). ANNUAL FIGURES: 365,000 missing & 109,000 sexually trafficked.
TODAY IN THE USA:
Approximately 190 died of illegal Fentanyl overdoses (out of the 273 total overdose deaths today) supplied by criminal drug activity. ANNUAL FIGURES: 100,000 overdose deaths, 85% from illegal drugs, and 70% of that total from illegal Fentanyl. Estimates are that 90% of illegal Fentanyl in USA is manufactured in China, and crosses into USA via Southern border. SEE PORTLAND OREGON FENTANYL BS GUY LET GO AND DISAPPEARED.
TODAY IN THE USA: Approximately 385 died of alcohol poisoning and alcohol related factors. ANNUAL FIGURES: Approximately140,000 deaths due to alcohol poisoning and alcohol related factors.
TODAY IN THE USA: Approximately 1,250 died of smoking related causes. Of these deaths, approximately 112 (including at least one infant 18 months or younger) were non-smoker victims of second hand smoke, including . ANNUAL FIGURES: Approximately 41,000 deaths due to second hand smoke, including 400 infants. One in five deaths in the US each year are caused by smoking. Note: Commercial tobacco products have been curated to contain chemicals which aid in the delivery of Nicotine, one of the most addictive substances on earth. These deadly to humans chemicals include Benzene, Toluene, Butane, Cadmium, Ammonia, and Hydrogen Cyanide. If a new company founded today released a new consumer product line (cigarettes, cigars, chew) that were constructed with the materials of the average cigarette/tobacco product on the market today, there would be a public outcry. In the meantime, this dangerous public health scourge which costs taxpayers a quarter of a trillion dollars in health care costs, generates 12 billion dollars per year in Federal tax revenue.
TODAY IN THE USA: Approximately 685 died from medical malpractice errors. ANNUAL FIGURES: Approximately 250,000 deaths.
TODAY IN THE USA: Approximately 350 died from prescription medications use. ANNUAL FIGURES: Approximately 128,000 deaths.
TODAY IN THE USA: A conservatively estimated* 2,000 law-abiding legal gun owners exercised their Second Amendment right via Defensive Gun Use (DGU) to be their own (and in many cases their loved ones, and in some cases, a stranger’s) first responder - and therefore avoided becoming a criminal violence victim statistic.
*DGU’s are difficult to estimate due to most of them not involving the “good guy/gal with a gun’s” weapon being fired, and sparse reporting to police. The largest recent survey concluded 750,000 DGU incidents per year in America is a valid lower end estimate. The predominant circumstances of a DGU are as follows: a criminal intent on enacting a crime confronts a potential victim. The potential victim shows or produces a firearm to criminal. Criminal stops their intended crime. Criminal flees.
But, yeah, let's focus on AR-15's.
The very, very, very bad argument is found in all of the extreme carnage above. You can divide the AR-15's by their utilization in murder to get the numbers regarding their actual prevalence vis-a-vis competing societal ills which dwarf the use of AR's by criminals who are, as we know, gonna criminal.
Road trip...so I'm out. Enjoy the rest of this surreal weekend, folks. Stay safe!