Deadly

2021 will go into the history books as one of the deadliest years for Americans. The pandemic toll is at the top of the list of causes. Traffic deaths figure high as one would suppose, but gun violence is a close third. If those two causes of death are OK with you, stop reading this post right now. The rest of what is written here won’t be of much interest to you.

For the rest of us, however, it does matter that an enormous number of people died unnecessarily from guns and traffic accidents. Both are avoidable. Plain and simple.

We learned long ago to lessen traffic deaths by making our cars safer for their occupants. Engineering came to the rescue. Our cars are collapsible now, with a core non-crush zone to protect passengers. And drivers.

Safety features grew from seat belts to deep dish, break-away steering wheels, padded dashes and interior designs meant to keep passengers out of harm's way. Then the electronic age entered the picture. We have rear view cameras, so we don’t run over tiny tots aimlessly walking behind our car while backing out of the garage or driveway. We have sensors that tell us if we are straying out of our lane, whether another car is in our blind spots and blocks us from changing lanes into those drivers. We have speed sensors, distance sensors and a host of other sensors that warn us from running into objects.

Of course, the first safety regulations imposed were speed limits. We long ago came to understand that speed kills. Speed limits were engineered to maintain our control of a car while in certain busy areas, topographical challenges and other dangers. After that came road engineering and construction standards that enhanced safety and lessened the effects of highspeed crashes.

Our laws and manufacturing standards proved our national care for safety. Traffic deaths plummeted from nearly 60,000 per year to 32,000. This occurred while our population soared from 100 million to 330 million. Safety standards worked.

But not for gun violence. So far, no standards of engineering have made bullets safer. More deadly and damaging, yes; just not safer. Get hit by a bullet and you die or are badly injured or maimed. For life.

Let us see; yes, more guns are manufactured than in any other time of our history. More ammunition is made than in war time. Proliferation of guns and ammo are not driven by sports. No; it is driven by fear for safety. We buy more guns per capita than any other nation on earth merely to feel safe. And yet, we are not safer. In fact, we are more likely to die of gunshot than at any time in our history.

Odd, isn’t it?

Why do we buy these guns and bullets? Deep down, being safer is not the outcome of owning a gun.

Ask the families of gun violence victims. They live in neighborhoods where guns are prevalent. Do they feel safe? No! Decidedly they do not.

I am working with a new client who has had a brother and sister both die by gun violence in her neighborhood. She and her mother lead a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing gun violence in their region of suburban Chicagoland. Although they have labored for over 10 years on this mission, gun violence has risen, multiplied in fact.

Interestingly, there are no federally funded research projects to learn why gun violence continues to threaten our common good. That research is banned by agreement with the National Rifle Association. The NRA funds re-election campaigns of both senators and congresspeople. The caveat is money will be made available to them as long as gun legislation is favorable to their industry.

Did you know that? Did you know that our elected officials are such cowards that they allow their decisions to conform to the highest bidder for campaign funds? Do you know that?

You do now.

To correct this problem, we need to ban funds from the NRA to elected officials. Campaign finance reform is needed for this to happen. Second, tax funded universities should be studying the social issue of gun violence with the intent on learning how to lessen gun violence in the main, and how to make the products safer. Yes, I know; how do you make a tool of death safer? Sounds like an oxymoron. And it is. 

Maybe that’s our first problem to solve?

January 4, 2022

  


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