Originally posted by: DWW
Drunk driving kills double the people yearly than death with a gun. Why has it become "normal" and acceptable that for every few that arrive home alive, others will not? It is even worse because guns are MEANT to kill but alcohol isn't so what does that say? And how many of the death by guns were:
1) accidents while cleaning or hunting
2) police defending themselves
3) home owners shooting a lowlife
4) suicide
5) abused women fighting back
That would bring down the number probably half. In other words 4 times the amount of people die yearly in alcohol and car related manslaughter than with gun-related murders. Ban alcohol before you ban guns. But Moore won't see that happen, right?
Alright... lets assume that gun violence isn't a problem then. So why the proliferation of guns? And all the paranoia of the US? How many cities in the US have city-wide curfews? Do you know how many areas of the US where you wouldn't want to walk through at night? It's common practice to lock your doors even while your at home in the US right? How many other industrial nations would you say these are common practice (hint, NONE)?
Fact is, there is a proliferation of guns in the US. Are all gun owners own guns because they enjoy it as a sport? I'm sure a lot are, but i would bet most people buy guns for protection. And when you have so many guns, it's just statistically inevitable that you're going to have a proportionate of crime going to be related to gun violence... whether it's because it's a crime of passion and the weapon was convenient, or because guns are so saturated that it's easy to pick one off the market without any ID or waiting process. If you look at the crime rates of the US and Canada, you'll find the numbers are VERY similiar in everything but murder and gun violence... pedophila, rapes, robberies, break and enter, assaults... all but murder and gun violence.
EDIT: BTW, some people might argue that it's due to guns, that some of the other crime numbers in the US are lower than it is in Canada (most notably break and enter and theft). But i'll argue that the reason is because Canadians have more trust in their police and the law, so we're more likely to report the crime (i'm sure a lot of minority in the US won't report such crimes because they don't trust the law enforcement).