THOUGHTS BY DWIGHT KEHOE
by Dwight Kehoe, ©2018
(Apr. 5, 2018) — For several years now the MSM have been breathlessly awaiting the day that they can report that gun deaths in America exceed those from traffic accidents. USA Today has compiled several reports excitedly informing us that we are just about there. Even “Forbes” magazine has done some of this. One article they posted declared “death by guns has equaled those by traffic accidents.”
No, they haven’t. Not even close. It should come as no real surprise to anyone, even for the arrogantly ignorant cultists of socialism, that the MSM will do all they can to fool the masses by using intentionally misleading data. Which of course makes it misleading and useless.
WHAT THEY WANT
Reviewing one Forbes article reveals that this trend of data manipulation has found a new home, even in heretofore bastions of capitalism. To understand what they have done we need to understand why they do it. The “why” is simple; scare the daylights out of the hoi polloi in an effort to eventually garner enough support for removing or severely modifying the 2nd Amendment.
Our Founders provided a way to amend any part of the Constitution but deliberately made the process extremely difficult. Mandating that a super-majority of states be in agreement prevents changes inspired in emotionalism. Also the time this process consumes forces a sufficiently long procedure allowing for cooler heads to prevail.
Hence, chip, chipping away at the 2nd Amendment while relentlessly instilling fabricated fear into society is the only way that Amendment Process will ever be successful. So onward and forward they go manipulating the easily manipulated.
Most people are acutely aware of the massive numbers of deaths each year related to traffic accidents. That is why the left is aflutter at the prospect of having gun deaths equal traffic deaths. Another step closer to disarming America. Another chip!
But hold on just a second. These data provided by Forbes and others use statistics so skewed it’s almost comical. But since most leftist readers are humorless they find themselves in awe, fear and total concordance.
Let’s now take that “melodramatic comedy” out of their data and correctly place the numbers into a perspective that makes sense. First let’s give you the fear-mongering conclusion Forbes and the others have offered relating to gun deaths equaling traffic deaths. One article blared, “Gun Deaths About to Eclipse Traffic Deaths.” Another stated, “Firearm Rates Fast Approaching Traffic Accident Deaths.”
Here are the numbers and statistics many of these articles use. I have researched them and found them to be surprisingly accurate. Where the deception comes in is not in what they include, but in what they don’t.
WHAT THEY QUOTE
- Averaging over several years there have been about 33,000 traffic deaths annually with an average of 254 million registered vehicles on the road.
- Averaging over the past few years there have been 32,000 gun deaths while the known number of firearms owned by Americans is 300 million. (Most likely much more that that)
Looking at this comparison, the left would seem to be getting pretty close to their announcement that these data are about to merge. But here is what they conveniently forgot to mention.
Around 60% of those firearm deaths are suicides. A person wanting to kill himself uses a firearm to do it for the same reason a carpenter uses a hammer to drive a nail. It’s the best tool for the job.
That 60% reduces the number of firearm deaths to 19,000. Can you sense the loss of that data merge? Let’s continue.
Of the remaining 19,000 deaths more than 15,000 are committed by organized crime, drug smugglers and street gangs. By the way, no dismantling of the 2nd Amendment would interfere with these guys getting the best tools.
That brings the gun death comparison down to that comical level I spoke of. The number now sits at 4,000 gun deaths each year. But we are not finished yet.
They also include in their grand total of deaths by firearms justifiable deaths by police or citizens defending themselves or their families. That for sure is not a real large number but to be fair all data must be included, whether it detracts from the coveted equivalency or not.
Justifiable deaths by firearms vary greatly each year but a fair average number is about 250. This does not include the number of crimes or deaths prevented which number into the many hundreds of thousands.
The new adjusted number of firearm deaths is now 3,750 a year. Simple mathematics, which I have done for you, reveals that an individual has a .00013% chance of being killed by a firearm while he has a .0129% chance of dying in a traffic accident.
To break this down further you are 97 times more likely to die on America’s roads than you are of being shot to death.
In their agenda to upend America’s liberty, it may be time for Forbes and the others to seek a few new methods. This traffic death comparison fails miserably.
tpathwpe@outlook.com