Guns kill more people than cars do in a growing number of states

[trueprada]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/guns-kill-more-than-cars-nra-convention-tennessee

NRA Holds Annual Convention in a State Where Guns Now Kill More Than Cars Do

Guns kill more people than cars do in a growing number of states, according to a new analysis of national mortality data from the Violence Policy Center. The report finds that in 2013, firearm-related deaths exceeded those caused by motor vehicles in 17 states and the District of Columbia. This means that four more states have crossed this threshold since 2012, including Louisiana, Missouri, Virginia, and Tennessee. In Nashville this Friday, the National Rifle Association opens the doors to its 144th annual convention.

The Violence Policy Center's report is the latest among several studies indicating that guns are soon likely to surpass cars as America's "top killing machine." While traffic safety regulations have helped reduce the number of motor-vehicle-related deaths over the years, the report notes that the number of deaths caused by firearms has been creeping up, as the chart below shows. That's noteworthy in part because about 90 percent of American households own a car, but less than a third of American households own guns.

Guns kill more people than cars do in a growing number of states, according to a new analysis of national mortality data from the Violence Policy Center. The reportfinds that in 2013, firearm-related deaths exceeded those caused by motor vehicles in 17 states and the District of Columbia. This means that four more states have crossed this threshold since 2012, including Louisiana, Missouri, Virginia, and Tennessee. In Nashville this Friday, the National Rifle Association opens the doors to its 144th annual convention.

 

 

[dropten]

Obviously cars are the problem. Time to ban them

 

[bandit country]

Nice to see cars are getting safer. Thanks capitalism.

 

[leavemeglazzies]

Obviously cars are the problem. Time to ban them

Cars aren't made to kill people though, so your sarcastic pro-gun remark doesn't hold water.

 

[Belgium]

Banning guns won't make a change. It's the mindset and the upbringing of the American people. It's too late to change anything about it now.

I guarantee that if you were to hypothetically have the same gun laws and gun ownership % in Canada for example, there would be significantly less gun crimes.

Banning guns does not equal a solution. It is merely attempting to supress a symptom of an underlying problem.

Switzerland has similar gun laws and has the 4th highest gun ownership per capita in the world. The gun crime rate however isn't even remotely close to the US.

 

[Comparison Ford]

 

[BALH ENH]

Cars are more dangerous in my state. 4 lanes, no cars, driving slow, still causes a wreck on their own. Guns are just the easier way of doing it.

 

[calypso chanta]

 

x2

 

 

[dropten]

Cars aren't made to kill people though, so your sarcastic pro-gun remark doesn't hold water.

Wasnt made to kill people yet STILL kills more people. Hows that for contrast!!
Yes im pro gun. Hopefully someone like you wont need one

 

[iknownuffin]

Guns don't kill people people kill people

 

[flyny]

Why isnt New York on that list?
I could've sworn NY had a lot of shootings in 2013

 

[Top Boy]

Amazed my state isn't on there.

Any time the weather is over 65 degrees you are guaranteed to have a dead body.

 

[ctidda]

I hate guns bruh...

 

[chewie]

Wow, DC ain't what it used to be. That's a good thing. I remember growing up uptown in the 80s/90s...lawd have mercy. We were the murder cap for a while. DC all gentrified now, the "chocolate city" days are long gone lol.

 

[<Agape]

"Guns don't kill, people kill people"

 

[johnnyredstorm]

i mean, if you want someone dead, you're gonna kill them either way.

 

[Coromanti]

I got a hundred guns, a hundred clips N_ I'm from new york! new york!

 

[360waves]

I always wondered how so many guns get into the hands of young teens even children? Is there a documentary on this?

 

[flyny]

I always wondered how so many guns get into the hands of young teens even children? Is there a documentary on this?

Watch the movie "Strapped" with Bokeem Woodbine and Fredro Starr. It's all in the movie, fam

One person goes to cop guns legally, let's say Texas or Virginia. He's copping guns from multiple shops as time goes on. He scratches the serial numbers off each gun, and now he sells em to his mans, who then drives up to whatever city, and sells em each. The original owner reports them stolen (insurance company gives him money for the loss).
These guns hit the streets. That's why a lot of the guns that criminals have have defaced serial numbers

It's a vicious cycle, man. And these cats will sell a gun to ANYONE. Regardless what age the buyer is.

I saw a documentary on this

And to add, the guns that are on the streets go in heavy rotation. No one wants to keep a gun on them for a long period of time because no one knows what history that gun has.

It's a cycle that needs to be stopped

 

[dipsetgeneral]

Guns don't kill people people kill people

Agreed.

 

[03silverbullet]

...what about car on car crime?

 

[gwap]

sounds like mental health (suicides) account for the vast majority of gun deaths....

maybe mental health should be looked at instead of focusing on the method of suicide?

 

[Quincy McCall]

"Toast doesn't toast toast, toast toast toast."

 

[Quincy McCall]

X3

 

[rexanglorum]

As liberal as I have become, I just have no appetite for gun control. As a liberal, I have many critiques of gun culture. It is too macho, too nationalistic, too white, too rural and guns are increasingly the opiate of the white underclass. Gun culture innervates poor white voters and causes them to not vote or to vote Republican, the logic is that while a poor white man may have become poor or stays poor due to Republican trickle down economics, Republicans will make sure that he may carry a rifle, slung over his shoulder and with impunity, into his local Chipotle. Who needs economic justice when your AR-15 can show the world that you are a real man?

I am surprised that blacks and Latinos have any desire to see more gun control. From my perspective, gun control and gun related sentencing enhancements are cudgels used by vindictive prosecutors to add more black and brown bodies to this Country's burgeoning Prison State. I am not suggesting that the NRA is any friend of black and brown Americans.

While the NRA will lobby hard to make sure that an insane 25 year old, white, rural male can buy his seventh rifle, the NRA does not care at all if a 55 year old, black, male nonviolent felon is forever barred from legally keeping a cheap pistol in his nightstand for home defense. As far as the NRA is concerned The rights of a white guy to shoot up a mall or a school trump the right of a black pillar of community who sold crack in the 1980's. I am surprised that more minorities do not adopt the position of "I have no love for the NRA but still keep your hands off of my gun."

As both a student of History and as a leftist-populist, I have a certain fondness for small arms. Cheap and plentiful small arms have allowed the people to overcome the ruling class and their expensive and sophisticated weapons systems. I do not advocate for armed rebellion in the United States. Voting and the consistent and forceful demands for social justice and social democracy are the way to go but I feel that wipe spread ownership and mastery of firearms on the part of historically marginalized groups can only help the cause. The real and perceived threats of armed rebellion buttressed the causes of MLK and Gandhi, the oppressors are much more likely to embrace the causes of the non violent when they believe that violence awaits them if they remain truculent in the face of social change.

Gun Control is just a political loser for the left. Tolerating gun ownership can allow us to steal poor white votes and it will allow us to have a new issue with which to galvanize some black and brown men who ordinarily do not vote. We can damn the NRA, which needs damning, so we can placate the most anti gun members of our coalition. Praise guns, damn the NRA and proceed to hammer away at income inequality and the police and prison state.