2a4all
Regular Member
I was OCing while watching this.
http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/requiem-for-the-dead-american-spring-2014
This program narrates many very sad, tragic stories of people who died from gunshots for a variety of reasons during the Spring of 2014. It slants things heavily toward the conclusion that the cause of these tragedies was easy access to firearms, in many cases by those who should not have had such access (e.g. toddlers).
However, it makes an issue of an overriding statistic based upon the number of people killed each year (some 32,000) along with a claim that there are some 310,000,000 privately owned firearms in the US, a quantity that is nearly the same as the population. While they don't say so directly, the implication is that there are too many firearms in the hands of individuals, thus the great danger of injury/death from them.
A simpler statistic might be that these 32,000 deceased folks represent a miniscule fraction of the population (31,000/310,000,000 = 0.01013%), which suggests (at least to me) that firearms aren't really much of a threat. I don't have the stats handy, but I'm sure there are other devices/activities with widespread use which are a greater threat.
We had such an issue in a nearby community yesterday when a preschooler found his dad's handgun and fatally shot himself while both parents were home.
Is it time to beat the Education Drum?
http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/requiem-for-the-dead-american-spring-2014
This program narrates many very sad, tragic stories of people who died from gunshots for a variety of reasons during the Spring of 2014. It slants things heavily toward the conclusion that the cause of these tragedies was easy access to firearms, in many cases by those who should not have had such access (e.g. toddlers).
However, it makes an issue of an overriding statistic based upon the number of people killed each year (some 32,000) along with a claim that there are some 310,000,000 privately owned firearms in the US, a quantity that is nearly the same as the population. While they don't say so directly, the implication is that there are too many firearms in the hands of individuals, thus the great danger of injury/death from them.
A simpler statistic might be that these 32,000 deceased folks represent a miniscule fraction of the population (31,000/310,000,000 = 0.01013%), which suggests (at least to me) that firearms aren't really much of a threat. I don't have the stats handy, but I'm sure there are other devices/activities with widespread use which are a greater threat.
We had such an issue in a nearby community yesterday when a preschooler found his dad's handgun and fatally shot himself while both parents were home.
Is it time to beat the Education Drum?
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