shallit@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP (Jeff Shallit) (01/16/85)
>> What I do hate is the thought of more than 30 people killed each >> day by handguns. > >Well, let's see. A (1981) almanac and a calculator provide the >following breakdown: >In the US, 5205 people die every day. Most die of disease, about half >heart disease. (Major cause: smoking.) 273 of the deaths >are from accidents, about half (136) auto. 38 die from falling down. >19 people drown. 17 are burned to death. 14 people are fatally poisoned. >8 people choke to death on something they were eating. ...and 5 die >in gun accidents (of all kinds). >Each day, 73 people commit suicide, and 55 are murdered. 5 in New York >City alone, with its super-strict "gun control". If we accept >Jeff's figure, more people die falling off ladders and downstairs than >from handguns. --and that includes ALL handgun death. Falling is a >favorite way to commit suicide but that's not included in the accident >figure. (Suicide deaths are included in Jeff's number--remember what I >said about panaceas?) This last statement by Hall is false. > >Where is the push for stair registration? Ladder waiting >periods? Mandatory sentences for swimming without a license? >FOOD CONTROL!!! Of course, this is total nonsense. Handguns are NOT good for much except blowing other people away. Further comment is unnecessary. > >If you seek more corroboration for my contention that gun control >is an emotionally motivated political power play, recall the >recently quoted "awards" by Mike Royko (a nationally syndicated >columnist) for gun accidents. Royko obviously hates gun owners; >would he give an award for Person With Most Artistic Third Degree >Burns All Over His Body? I suppose Hall might be surprised if he did a little reading. For example, try reading Royko's column of January 15 (that's yesterday.) >I believe that if Jeff were seriously concerned about people dying in >the US, he might (a) lend his writing talents and net access to >a graphic discussion of emphysema, perhaps causing some reader to >quit smoking and thereby actually doing something to save lives; The difference is obvious. If you smoke, you endanger only yourself (and possibly those within 2 feet). On the other hand, YOUR ownership of a handgun is a menace to MY well-being. (b) try for stricter >sentencing laws for actual crimes against persons (since a large >percentage of murders are done by someone on conditional release >(probation or parole) for violent crimes of which they have been >convicted; Stricter sentencing laws, unlike handgun control, have little evidence to show they do much good. Nevertheless, if Hall would read Handgun Control's platform, he would see that one of their goals is stricter sentencing. >Assuming that Jeff's fondest wish came true, and (another) national >gun law were passed, and somehow magically all handgun owners repented >of their sins, and gave up their guns to be beaten into plowshares, >and nobody jumped off a bridge because he couldn't shoot himself, >and nobody robbed a store with a sawed-off shotgun because he couldn't >get a "Saturday Night Special", and nobody shot at a political figure >with a hunting rifle because he couldn't get a .22 target pistol; >THEN, the number of people who died every day might go from 5205 >to 5175. I think the distortion in Hall's posting should be obvious to anyone whose reading ability goes beyond, say, the third-grade level. Moreover, his lack of compassion gives "callous" a bad name. Jeff Shallit