H2Andy:
let's keep things in perspective.
deaths in the U.S. per year:
autmotobile: 43,500
falls: 15,000
firearms: 12,500
poisoning: 9,500
fires: 3,500
drowning: 3,500
inhaling objects: 3,000
medical complications: 2,500
let's not blow this event out out of proportion, tragic as it may be
in a country of 300,000,000, about 12,500 deaths from firearms per year is a statistical nullity
(that's .0000416 % of the population)
Automobiles - essential to society, bring many benefits - associated deaths pretty well ALL accidental. Cars aren't designed to injure/kill.
Falls, choking, poisoning -
happens
Drowning - almost always accidental. We need water and it's an unavoidable part of our living environment.
etc etc etc almost all unavoidable in some form or other.
Firearms - essential to very very few people in modern urban society. Deaths or injuries from guns are rarely accidental, it's what they are designed for, the sole purpose of their existence. Hunting weapons used by hunters for hunting, fair comment, but if you have and carry a handgun especially in an urban environment, it's got one intended purpose and that's bagging two-legged game.
Now I hate to say this and it's probably a low blow to Americans generally but if 12,500 deaths a year is just a statistically irrelevant blip, why are we all getting so wound up by 9-11? ( and by the Bali Bombings and by the 7-7 London Transport bombings for that matter). If 12500 is no big deal, then what's all the panic about? Now that was pretty tongue in cheek, so please forgive me but it just makes me wonder how it is that so many of you are all so happy to put up with so many unnecessary deaths?
By the way, it's not "just" 12500 deaths, it probably also averages at about 125000 bereavements of close family, not to mention the impact on work colleagues, friends and witnesses to the event. I can put accidental death of those I hold dear in some sort of context but losses by homicide (and lets face it, a gun is the most efficient way of doing this) will always make it so much worse.
I speak from experience of a friend shooting himself over some silly incident, which wouldn't have seemed half so bad the next morning in the light of day, it's something I'll never forget as log as I live. Which brings me to another aspect of suicide. Men who own guns who are contemplating suicide usually use a gun for that purpose, as men, they tend to be more impulsive and as shooting is considered quick, painless and easy to contrive, that's what they do, often on the spur of the moment.
I appreciate that you also have a chicken & egg situaton too, that because so many crims carry guns, many law abiding people feel a need to be armed too and I'd imagine it's extremely difficult to break that cycle.
I say all this as a former owner of a .22, a 6.5mm and a very handy Mossberg - life was very exciting for the local wildlife population when I lived in the bush but that changed when I moved back to the city. So I'm not anti-gun per se.
). Seriously, most students are frequently checking their email.
