Guns Kill More Americans Than Terrorists Do

That was the headline on Jennifer Chaussee’s Science article in WIRED Magazine on October 2, 2015. This is a common ploy, or mistake, made by those in the media and our own neighbors. Ms. Chaussee is comparing an inanimate object (gun) to a person (terrorist.) This is a category mistake, making the sentence illogical. Here’s an example to show how ridiculous it is:

Baseball Bats Drink More Beer Than Rugby Players Do

Stupid, right? What she should have written was something like this:

Crazy People With Guns Kill More Americans Than Terrorists Do

Well, we can’t blame Ms. Chaussee alone for this faux pas, as she was quoting the President of the United States. Mr. Obama is trying to focus the nation’s attention on this terrible blight on our country – firearm ownership.

I was surprised to find that Ms. Chaussee actually did some research for her article (because I simply assumed she was a liberal, not particularly interested in the truth.) Her infographic is telling. Here it is:

What her research shows, among other things, is this:

Cars Kill More Americans Than Terrorists Do

Heart disease actually kills hundreds of times more Americans than everything in her infographic combined. But here’s the real question we should ask:

IF CARS KILL MORE AMERICANS THAN TERRORISTS DO, then why are we not banning car ownership?? Ownership of cars isn’t even guaranteed in the Constitution! So let me offer some numbers that might persuade those who are really concerned about saving American lives.

The stats for deaths by firearm given by Ms. Chaussee are divided into suicide and murder. Suicide accounts for more than half of the firearm-related gun deaths. This is fixable if we care for those who despair, have no hope, and find no reason to live. As people of faith, this should concern us greatly. We should reach out to our neighbors and share our faith in G-d. After all, if there is nothing worth dying for, then what is there to live for?

The other side of this subject is MURDER, and specifically Murder of Americans. It turns out the United States is THIRD PLACE in murders world-wide. Third place! Yikes!! That’s atrocious!

If we remove just FOUR liberally-controlled cities that have the harshest gun control laws in the country (Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C. and New Orleans) the United States would drop to FOURTH FROM THE BOTTOM of the list.

So, if we want to SAVE AMERICAN LIVES, we should a) help our neighbors find a reason outside themselves to live for and b) help to change the draconian gun control laws in the four cities mentioned above.

Then our free country would have happy and healthy citizens and the fourth LOWEST murder rate on the planet. Nice.

Now get up and grab a stranger – and take them to the range! You’ll help them and the country.

Shoot safe. Shoot often.

JoeGLOCK