It’s Sad! Really Sad!

Why do we continue to let the NRA decide what is best for America?

32,000 people a year die from guns! 83 people a day! 2,500 people every month!

That is very close to the annual death toll from auto accidents (32,367 in 2011). Yet with auto accidents, we constantly implement new regulations to improve auto safety. We’ve continuously improved roadways. We’ve added airbags, crumple zones, side impact barriers, anti-lock brakes, and all kinds of other improvements to make auto accidents less likely and more survivable. We’ve changed licensing laws for young drivers to gradually introduce them to driving. We require more supervised behind the wheel hours before a young driver can get their license and we’ve passed laws eliminating or reducing distractions that resulted in so many needless teen deaths in auto crashes. And let us not forget that cars have a huge practical use in getting people to school, work, and leisure.

The same cannot be said for guns. They only serve to kill. That is what they are designed to do. That is why most people buy them. There are no requirements to be tested. In many states anyone can walk into a gun show and buy any gun they want. No background check required! Cash and carry!

If the NRA also represented the auto industry, I have no doubt that we would be hearing the best way to make cars safer is to allow younger people to drive, eliminate all license testing, make cars faster, more powerful, and strip out those safety features. Eliminate all traffic laws! That is, of course, insane. But so are the folks that run the NRA and own our government.

A few weeks ago, a lunatic with a gun showed up at a park in Forsyth County in Georgia (where they’ve now passed a law allowing guns in bars, churches, and other ridiculous places) and scared children and parents to the point they took shelter and called 911. Of course this is Georgia. Stalking around a children’s baseball game with a gun is legal so police could do nothing.

When are we going to stand up to the NRA? Maybe after a few more school shootings? Maybe after a few more lunatics strut around parks scaring children and parents to the point where they no longer feel safe going out into public? Maybe when gun deaths exceed auto deaths?