Gun owners BEWARE of the AHSA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironside

Wrong thread ~;p

You see, in a attemt to reduce the accidents with cars, we're having drivers licences, because we have come to the conclution that if you want to own a car, then you'll need to handle it properly, to reduce the amounts of accidents.

By some odd reason does some people think that applying this to guns is proposterous. ~;p

I got no problem that NRA holds the corse instead of the state (probably quite the opposite, if the NRA holds better corses), the issue is those with guns that have no idea to handle them.

Using Xiahou's stats link, around 1K people (lump the accidental and "other" categories together) were killed through accidental use of firearms in the US in 2002, compared to 48K through vehicular accidents. Homicides and suicides don't count here, as they are the "proper" use and safety training would have no effect. Not trying to sound crass, but 1K is a drop in the bucket (1.5K die from falling down stairs? WTF???). To me, cars seem like a much greater danger than firearms, and training (such as it is) is already mandatory for cars. Doesn't seem like firearms safety courses would make much of a difference, although I still think people should take them.

The accidental deaths caused by firearms are not really the issue. The issue is the balance of personal protection and freedoms vs the criminal use of firearms. If existing laws were enforced properly, this would go a long way to reducing the crime. The threat of a legally armed populace as a hedge against government abuse, that's something worth keeping.