Short Takes – Perspectives in Violence

Opinion

Perspective, about deadly events, means nothing if you are the victim facing any threat that could kill you. Currently, the objet d’jour of outrage is against guns because they are noisy, frightening and, if semi-automatic, can do a lot of damage quickly. One such, in the hands of a disturbed individual just killed a lot of innocent people as well. But, so can a determined person with a vehicle by smashing into crowds of holiday makers, school children lining up for their bus or pedestrians window shopping on a city street. Jihadists are using this inexpensive technique.

 

The violence by guns statistics of Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis and Detroit alone, makes the perspective of other means of violent death seem trivial in comparison. Deaths in the four cities mentioned exceed the numbers of soldiers killed in Middle-East conflicts.  American troops killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in an eleven year period, 2001 and 2012 was 6,488. Add the number of American women killed in domestic violence by husbands or boyfriends, at 11,766, and it nearly doubles the number of casualties killed in the recent wars.

 

Here’s where ‘perspective‘ changes. In 2015, 10,265 people died in drunk driving collisions  accounting for nearly a third of all traffic-related deaths in the United States. 209 children, aged one to fourteen, were among those statistics as victims of drunk drivers. In 2015, nearly 1.1 million drivers were apprehended for DUI by alcohol or narcotics. A studied survey conducted by the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers group revealed 14,000,000 (yes, 14 million) people drive impaired daily on our streets and highways. Where is the outrage?

 

On top of that, the death rates caused by illegals lurking in sanctuary cities, is unbelievable. What happens to them? They are sometimes deported only to return a few months later to do it all over again.  Another large contributor to the high vehicle death rate is driving while texting. The death rate here is roughly nine killed and a thousand injured every day. Using cell phones accounts for nearly 1.6 million crashes a year (2015 statistics).

 

Deaths by Domestic violence has occurred since the beginning of time between two partners who have a disagreements. Usually it’s men vs. women, often resulting in death or injury to responding police officers. Add in the Gay partnerships and well, they’re not immune either.  

 

A really big death offender is the medical and pharmacies industry. 100,000 Americans are killed annually by drugs prescribed by doctors (Source: www.CDC.gov). These killings go on year after year with no consequences to drug companies or doctors. Doctors can simply bury their mistakes. Overdose deaths average 13 teenagers an hour yet no one in the Congress has the courage to seal the Mexican-US border from the $50 billion in drugs crossing there annually.  At least 64,000 Americans died from illegal drugs in 2016 that crossed our southern border. (Source: www.drugabuse.gov).  Did I not mention killings, by knives, hammers or baseball bats? 1,490 people were killed by cutting instruments in 2013. Rifles, including the AR-15, killed only 285 folks while shotguns killed 308. The highest death rates have been in “gun free” zones.

The discussion on “gun violence” is the mantra of the Left. They only want complete and total gun confiscation. To them, no other solution is worthy of discussion. Our society is seriously divided between constitutionalists and the dark forces of complete socialism. A disarmed America is their total goal. Once the 2nd amendment is neutralized and Americans are relieved of the responsibility for their own self-defense, then watch the crushing mantle of Communism spread over the land, enforced by the only armed group left, their police forces. Remember, freedom is the goal, the Constitution is the way. Now, go get ‘em!

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