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Based on a good suggestion from Silver, I thought it would be interesting to start this thread. In the news, we see commentary after commentary against guns because of the number of people killed in gun related incidents. There have been comments about how gun owners are irresponsible, dangerous, etc.
A trip to the CDC site reveals this about guns:

There are

Roughly 31, 000 gun related deaths yearly

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm


A little over 11,000 are homicides


http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm



Around 19,000 are suicides



http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm


Alcohol kills 88,000 yearly and comes with other lovely side effects as detailed in the CDC report

http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm

I am curious why we don't see as many, if any at all, anti alcohol comments from newscasters and politicians on the level and frequency of those who want stronger controls on guns or their outright abolishment in the private sector since alcohol causes far more death and mayhem on a yearly basis than guns.

It's just another case where the item designed strictly for killing, is not as lethal as items that aren't.

Cars are another example.

Neither are as sensational though, which is why we don't see the stories.

Because.
Alchohol can be compared to a poisoned cake- will give you a sore tummy, but won't kill you.
A guns only perpose is death- you know by the silohet. To the human mind gun=death.

Whether designed to or not, alcohol still has a far more negative impact than guns.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 djones520 wrote:
It's just another case where the item designed strictly for killing, is not as lethal as items that aren't.

Cars are another example.

Neither are as sensational though, which is why we don't see the stories.

We need cars, however. Alcohol we do not need.

Its simply because people believe they can handle a drink, when they really can't.

I'm still fuzzy on your point.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'm still fuzzy on your point.

Mine?

Because I mean that very often people are like. "Okay One more drink, I can handle it."
After that they get into their car and usually they get into a car crash.

I'm more shocked that this actually surprises people, and that people feel it's worthy of a thread! Of course alcohol kills more people!

I know here in the UK we're extremely tight on gun ownership (which is a very good thing), but I didn't realise it was such a problem in the US...

 Asherian Command wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'm still fuzzy on your point.

Mine?

Because I mean that very often people are like. "Okay One more drink, I can handle it."
After that they get into their car and usually they get into a car crash.

No, his (Relapse). I get your point.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'm still fuzzy on your point.

The point being that it is strange we don't have big news stories, for example, on how many people died over a weekend from alcohol related causes in the news as we see in the New York Times about people dying from gun related causes. We do not see politicians having tirades against alcohol the way we see Obama going against guns.
Why the silence from these people about alcohol when it kills more and destroys more lives through various means, like job loss, health loss, marriages ruined, etc.?

Well, we tried getting rid of alcohol but nobody liked that.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
Well, we tried getting rid of alcohol but nobody liked that.

Who said get rid of it? We just need some common sense measures that will help regulate it more, and keep our children safe. Who could be against common sense measures?



Am I doing it right?

Well
1:Guns tend, not always as shown before, meant to kill other people(And mostly yourself if you roll a one)
2:No one is going into schools and killing people with tequila shots
3: Alchohol Tastes good, a lead bullet im sure doesnt(I have yet t been able to catch a bullet in my mouth)
4: Drunk people are hilarious, Dead people not so much(Sometimes though)
5: Guns hit on touch AC and have no place in my fantasy

Wow, first post is using false equivalence were off to a great start.

 Cheesecat wrote:
Wow, first post is using false equivalence were off to a great start.

Fact of the matter more people are dead and lives ruined from alcohol than guns. People get uptight over 31,000 people, 19,000 of whom are suicides, dying a year from guns. Alcohol death, even though at 88,000, doesn't rate much more than jokes, as we see in this thread.

Relapse wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'm still fuzzy on your point.

The point being that it is strange we don't have big news stories, for example, on how many people died over a weekend from alcohol related causes in the news as we see in the New York Times about people dying from gun related causes. We do not see politicians having tirades against alcohol the way we see Obama going against guns.
Why the silence from these people about alcohol when it kills more and destroys more lives through various means, like job loss, health loss, marriages ruined, etc.?

The main thing with gun violence is that you (usually) don't chose to have someone shoot you. If you are the person drinking, than if you die it's usually your fault. I think that is the reasoning is for stuff like that.
And Obama having tirades against guns? I haven't heard about anything like that.

While I agree that alcohol abuse is a problem in this country and we need to find a way to fix it you could have just left it at that.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

Relapse wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I'm still fuzzy on your point.

The point being that it is strange we don't have big news stories, for example, on how many people died over a weekend from alcohol related causes in the news as we see in the New York Times about people dying from gun related causes. We do not see politicians having tirades against alcohol the way we see Obama going against guns.
Why the silence from these people about alcohol when it kills more and destroys more lives through various means, like job loss, health loss, marriages ruined, etc.?

The main thing with gun violence is that you (usually) don't chose to have someone shoot you. If you are the person drinking, than if you die it's usually your fault. I think that is the reasoning is for stuff like that.
And Obama having tirades against guns? I haven't heard about anything like that.

While I agree that alcohol abuse is a problem in this country and we need to find a way to fix it you could have just left it at that.

About 10,000 people are killed by drunk drivers a year.

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

As far as Obama goes:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-calls-for-sweeping-new-gun-laws/

True, but why not recognize they're two very different problems (in terms of amount of time spent, location, purpose, etc) and both should be taken seriously rather than pretending they're really that similar and that one is more important than the other (well maybe one is it would be

interesting to see how someone evaluates that though).

 The Shadow wrote:
, but I didn't realise it was such a problem in the US...

It's not a "problem" in the US... the problem is idiotic policies created by ignorant people. It's in MUCH the same line as the Volstead Act (which was the punitive and legal measure to enforce the Prohibition Amendment), as they are ill-thought, nearly impossible to enforce laws that do nothing to do anything about the root problems of society.

I mean, really, we should be more concerned with WHY people drink to a point where they either die directly from alcohol or from doing something stupid (like driving, etc.). But if we're talking strictly numbers, then I'm sure heart disease and cholesterol account for more deaths than even Alcohol (too lazy to look), so, obviously we NEED to do something about the fat arses running around our planet (my solution involves Soylent Green )

You also need to look into other statistics such as the number of gun owners compared to people who drink alcohol.

Hi captain obvious. Any more amazing insights?

 Cheesecat wrote:
True, but why not recognize they're two very different problems (in terms of amount of time spent, location, purpose, etc) and both should be taken seriously rather than pretending they're really that similar and that one is more important than the other (well maybe one is it would be

interesting to see how someone evaluates that though).

It's not like very few people own guns (47% of Americans report ownership. The number that own guns and don't report it is anyone's guess)

http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/self-reported-gun-ownership-highest-1993.aspx

yet alcohol has an 8 to 1 lead over gun related homicide as a cause of death.

A 100% of people who breathe air die.

 Cheesecat wrote:
A 100% of people who breathe air die.

As I said, alcohol death is a cause for humor with people, yet they freak at the far fewer number of people that are killed by guns.

 Cheesecat wrote:
A 100% of people who breathe air die.

100% of people who drink water die as well. Your point?

Air doesn't cause death (except in rare freak occurences). Alcohol does.

 djones520 wrote:

 Cheesecat wrote:
A 100% of people who breathe air die.

100% of people who drink water die as well. Your point?

Air doesn't cause death (except in rare freak occurences). Alcohol does.

I think Cheesecat's post was more of a humorous reply to Soladrin's.

 djones520 wrote:

 Cheesecat wrote:
A 100% of people who breathe air die.

100% of people who drink water die as well. Your point?

Air doesn't cause death (except in rare freak occurences). Alcohol does.

This right here.

Relapse wrote:

 Cheesecat wrote:
A 100% of people who breathe air die.

As I said, alcohol death is a cause for humor with people, yet they freak at the far fewer number of people that are killed by guns.

For me the main reason for that would be, guns kill other people, alcohol involves a lot more killing yourself, which I don't mind.

Relapse wrote:

 Cheesecat wrote:
True, but why not recognize they're two very different problems (in terms of amount of time spent, location, purpose, etc) and both should be taken seriously rather than pretending they're really that similar and that one is more important than the other (well maybe one is it would be

interesting to see how someone evaluates that though).

It's not like very few people own guns:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/self-reported-gun-ownership-highest-1993.aspx

yet alcohol has an 8 to 1 lead over gun related homicide as a cause of death.

Sure, but how often do people spend time drinking versus using their guns?

Relapse wrote:
yet alcohol has an 8 to 1 lead over gun related homicide as a cause of death.

Why are you comparing (slow) alcohol related suicides with gun related homicides?