The radio control airplane club sends more people to the emergency room?
Not that I’m doubting you, but do you have numbers or something else to back this up?
If I understood you correctly, that is
If you don’t want to provide anything, that’s fine
As far as the backyard swimming pool, that’s not news to me. I’ve long heard that rates go up dramatically with a pool. Apparently, it’s because of unfortunate accidents, which are more common than they should be
I’ll say another thing . . . and don’t take this as an offense, because it’s not meant to be
You seem to love your firearms, and that’s fine. And you will cite evidence that guns are more safe than pools and radio control airplanes, for example. Your examples, actually
And people that are not in favor of firearms will cite evidence that they are less safe than those things you mentioned, for example. Or maybe they’ll compare firearms to other things that haven’t been mentioned yet
Naturally, your sources and their sources will not be the same
Just as people claiming global warming exists and those who claim it’s a hoax/myth will have different sources
Remember, the remark about guns was “Personally, I feel better about complaining about 300 million guns…” Vs 50 million trucks. , I have more to complain about if I wanted to. There are still more unnecessary guns out there then unnecessary trucks…I rest my case on the sheer volume. ( from Wikipedia and who can fault that source) Heck, I have way too many guns I am not using too. I use my truck way more then the totality I use the guns. Most, includng myself, I feel could get by with less then half the guns we have but I believe I could not get by with one less truck.
So much these days is becoming fixated as status symbols and the pros and cons of the status symbols have become somewhat caustic. And as for guns the local police chief years ago told me that because my business sometimes caused me to carry significant sums of cash there would be no problem with my carrying a pistol when it seemed appropriate and although it was illegal to have a concealed weapon if it were necessary to threaten to use it or actually fire it a judge or jury would decide whether I was justified so it was for me or anyone to take that into consideration when considering the situation. Currently the pro gun people in my state and many others are causing local politicians to cater to them with all manner of laws specifying that guns can be carried virtually anywhere and seemingly making the gun owner presumptively justified if he uses the firearm and that to me is a great mistake. If someone draws and fires a firearm in public the onus to prove just cause should be significant. Having some politically motivated permit should have no significant influence on the legality of using a firearm. I don’t wish to shop or eat out at any business where I felt the need to be armed and don’t wish to visit a business where there are wannabe cops carrying their firearms. Friendly fire isn’t really very friendly.
But what happened to the gun racks that were once so common in the back windows of pickups? Does anyone still sell those racks?
Years ago, a colleague said he didn’t feel safe driving to a national park, if he didn’t have his guns with him. In fact, he specifically said he didn’t feel safe, if he wasn’t very visibly wearing a holster with his sidearm, for any and all to see
And he did not mean that he needed the guns to protect himself from bears
In fact, I think he said he also said he didn’t feel safe, if other people didn’t perceive him to be dangerous and threatening
He said he didn’t feel safe around the other visitors. I’m not sure exactly who he ran into
This guy didn’t have a pickup truck with gun racks. He had a suburban, and I think he had pistols and revolvers, not rifles and shotguns
@rodknox The same is happening in our state. If passed, I cannot imagine what goes in a cops mind who is making a stop on a “truck” KNOWING that anyone with no license can now be legally armed and contain a loaded CONCEALED gun in a truck. Trucks are espcially difficult to see inside from the higher stature. I firmly believe Police violence and militarization can be tied directly to the proliferation of guns and the lack of control as to who gets them…not the proliferation of trucks. That’s why I can easily complain about them. Heck, at least some one needs to take a test and get insured to use a truck. In states like yours and mine, they want complete and easy assess and worse, concealed carry. You can’t conceal a truck. Everyone knows you spend way too much money on gas.
I occasionally visit pawn shops browsing for bargains and I have noticed that their inventories of pistols and assault rifles seem to be growing while prices are declining so the trend may be on the decline. I honestly cannot understand why anyone ever paid a premium price for a faux M-16. Several versions fired rim fire 22 ammunition. That’s like those Camaros with 2.8L engines. All show and NO GO.
Last month a major magazine ran an article on gun ownership and murder statistics. They compared 11 DEVELOPED countries and there was a near linear relationship between private hand gun ownership and murder rates. The US has FIVE times the murder rate of the next murderous country, and Japan, where gun ownership is rare, had less than 1/10 the murder rate.
I do concede that Japan has a higher suicide rate than the US.
James Michener, in his book “Centennial”, describing the settling of the West, quotes that as many settlers were killed by their own guns going off accidentally than were killed by hostile Indians. And James Michener did exhaustive research before writing any book.
Just like everyone many who own a truck needs to be viewed a particular way, even if it’s a little six cylinder, having a .22 assault rifle does the same. They are supposidly practice weapons. The m16 is to small arms as the f150 is to car sales.
The radio control airplane club sends more people to the emergency room?
Not that I’m doubting you, but do you have numbers or something else to back this up?
I have only anecdotal data from being a member of both clubs. Yes, several people have had to be taken to the emergency room with severe lacerations to their fingers and hands. A 1.2 cubic inch nitro burning engine spinning a razor sharp 16 inch prop at over 10,000 rpm can hurt you pretty badly.
At the skeet and trap range, I have only witnessed one situation that required someone being taken in for treatment. A gentleman forgot to set the parking brake of his van and didn’t realize it was rolling as he stepped out of the vehicle. The door hit a tree which forced it shut on his ankle. We had to push the vehicle backwards so we could open the door off the driver’s leg. Fortunately, one of the regulars at the club was a doctor and was able to examine the injury.
When comparing automobile injuries to firearm injuries, you have to consider that almost 100% of car injuries and deaths are accidents. That means it can happen to you. You are not excluded from the risk pool.
Most gun injuries are murders, suicides, and attempted murders. If you are not a gang member, a hot head, get along fine with your neighbors and inlaws, and don’t go around looking for trouble, and you are not suicide prone, you have largely removed yourself from the risk pool even if you own a small arsenal.
There’s a reason you never see an ambulance standing by at a 4-H skeet or trap shoot like they have at high school football games.
The most dangerous part about shooting is the drive to the shooting range.
Even if "you are not a gang member, a hot head . . . " you might still be the victim of a drive by shooting, or get shot by a guy in the movie theater, or beauty salon
yes, you are right, if you’re not one of those guys you mentioned, your chances of avoiding a bullet are greater, there is still the possibility
I always have to remember to be polite and not antagonize too many people. Whatever stranger you’re interacting with . . . how do you know they aren’t packing, or how do you know they don’t have a pistol in the glovebox?
I live in a large city with many gun-toting gang members. There are occasionally drive by shootings, in which innocent people are sometimes shot and killed. Sometimes the only reason is that they live in a bad area, or were driving through a bad area. it is sometimes unavoidable to be in a bad situation and/or area
yes, statistically, there are undoubtedly many more traffic accidents versus shootings, but it’s still unnerving to think that you don’t know who you’re talking to, what they have in their jacket, purse, bag, glovebox, etc.
^That’s not a side-effect of our “absurd gun policy.” That’s a side-effect of our absurd drug policy.
You create an ideal environment for organized crime to flourish when you outlaw drugs or booze. They need violence to keep the heirarchy…they can’t go to the cops over a bad deal, now can they?
They use guns…lacking guns, they’d have to use zip guns…or knives…or heck, pointed sticks if that’s all they had available.
Nobody ever points this out because (generally) the folks who think guns are a good idea are the same people who support the drug war.
@meanjoe75fan
"The folks who think guns are a good idea are the same people who support the drug war"
You bring out an excellent point. Just to make crime and guns more car related, prohibition and the ensuing violence associated with it could not have been passed as legislation which I believe could not have been without the support of…the Rockefellers who were making their money in oil ( gasoline powered cars) . Henry Ford made his cars flex fuel, made first to run on Alcohol. The competition from thes fuels was eliminated by prohibition which outlawed the transportation of alcohol accross state lines, paving the way for gasoline powered cars and the oil cartelle in the USA to take hold. The rest is history. Early cars and trucks were made to run on alcohols making fuel very inexpensive because of competition at the pump.
Outlawing it paved the way for guns, violence, organized crime growth…all related to prohibition. When prohibition was repealed, organized grime needed to prosper to be relevant…ahhh, illegal drugs has been their fall back for years.
All, becasue of the lowly automobile and truck…you changed my mind…I worry now about oil to fuel our cars and trucks and the “wars” that are fought, both locally and abroad because of it and the loss of competition at the pump. Prohibition had less to do with the ills of drinking alcohol then it did the profits of the wealthy and fueling the automobile. Drug wars and the proliferation of guns…still profit motivated.
Business profits on comsumer excess, from alcohol, to guns to “big Trucks”.
Outlawing it paved the way for guns, violence, organized crime growth....all related to prohibition. When prohibition was repealed, organized grime needed to prosper to be relevant......ahhh, illegal drugs has been their fall back for years.
Make illegal drugs legal and they will likely fall back on prostitution, porn, and gambling.
Then there’s always the time honored protection racket. Organized criminals are opportunists. Make guns illegal and they’ll get into gun running.
Last month a major magazine ran an article on gun ownership and murder statistics. They compared 11 DEVELOPED countries and there was a near linear relationship between private hand gun ownership and murder rates. The US has FIVE times the murder rate of the next murderous country, and Japan, where gun ownership is rare, had less than 1/10 the murder rate.
After reading this I was compelled to do some fact checking. I looked up the world murder rates of 2015 and in order for the claim that the “next most murderous country having 1/5 of the US rate” to be true, they had to find a way to exclude a lot of DEVELOPED countries from that list of 11 DEVELOPED countries.
U.S. overall 4.7/100,000
Taiwan 3.0/100,000
Norway 2.2/100,000
Israel 1.8/100,000
Canada 1.6/100,000
Finland 1.6/100,000
Belgium 1.6/100,000
Iowa 1.4/100,000
Utah 1.7/100,000
I believe that article was a hit piece written by someone with an agenda and the “major magazine” that published it is notoriously hostile to gun ownership.
You could easily correspond murder rates by the occurrence of graffiti and conclude that graffiti causes murder and crime. I live in a nearly graffiti free area and we have never had a drive by shooting in our area…ever.
However, a month ago three people died on a nearby highway when a car driven at extremely high speeds crossed the centerline and hit oncoming traffic very close to where I live. You noticed how that was all over the news? Yea, me neither.
Hi - thanks to those for trying valiantly to bring it back to car-related topics, but I think (and you may yet prove me wrong - sometimes threads have nine lives ) this one’s still edging toward being a primarily non-car discussion.
The F150 is the most widely sold vehical for one good reason. It represent what we are and can do in the USA. Yes, it does accomodate our excesses. But IMho, the restrictions on their ownership are now being demonstrated in a more appropriate way. Mileage requirements. Ford answer by getting light, GM is answering by getting smaller. I think eventually most will get their wish for smaller trucks. I can’t say how small but it is inevitable. If we had free choice at the pump and all trucks and cars were flex fuel, I really don’t know what effect it would have on truck size. But for now, the regulatory effect has been profound and I feel it will continue. No one has ever said you can’t own a “truck” or as many “trucks” as you would like. What the have said, they must be regulated.
I like sitting up in a vehicle. If the day comes that I can’t get a minivan or a SUV similar to our 4Runner, I will buy a pickup truck. At my age, I’ve paid my dues driving AMC Ramblers, For Mavericks and Ford Tempos to get better mileage. Now, its the younger generation’s turn to be uncomfortable in the low slung cars.
The math professor that influenced my career commuted 25 miles to campus and back in a Ford pickup truck. He also had a Buick, but he preferred the pickup because he liked sitting up higher. He was 72 years old when I had him for class. He would roll into campus in the pickup truck at 7:00 a.m. just as I was leaving the dormitory for breakfast. This was more than 50 years ago and I am now his age. I know my professor’s 1961pickup truck didn’t have today’s creature comforts–the truck was a 6 cylinder manual transmission with no power options or air conditioning, and a bench seat, but he still thought it was comfortable to drive.
I’m beginning to think I have paid my dues riding a 70mpg Kawasaki Ninja 300 motorcycle myself. It’s beginning to take a while to stand straight up again after getting off the bike. But I keep riding it because I don’t want to admit I’m getting old.
I might have to switch to an “old man’s motorcycle” one of these days but most of them don’t get anywhere near 70 mpg, you might as well just drive a car.
@ B.L.E At least you don’t sit with your legs stretched out perpendicular to your body as you do I’m many of today’s cars. I find many cars today very uncomfortable for long distance trips.
Agreed. Maybe what I own is an “old man’s bike”. Honestly, it’s one of the more comfortable bikes I have owned, and that includes bikes that were much bigger. Having my feet below my center of mass makes it easy to stand on the pegs with my butt off the seat when I go over potholes or railroad tracks. With “cruisers” and their “easy rider” riding positions, you can’t do that easily.
Also, because it doesn’t weigh 800+ pounds, it’s no big deal to push it backwards out of parking spaces and if I drop it in a parking lot, I don’t need to get help to pick it back up.
When I owned a larger bike, if I let it tip to “the point of no return”, there was nothing I could do to keep it from going down.
Back in the '60s, small bikes was just about all there was unless you were rich enough to buy a Harley Davidson Electra-Glide, and even those vintage Electra-Glides look small and diminutive next to the stupid-big behemoths sold today. By “stupid-big”, I mean big for no good reason. Big as an end to itself instead of a means to an end. Big just to be big.
I went back to my small bike roots and rediscovered just how much fun those small bikes were. Sometimes bigger is, but sometimes bigger is just bigger.
Heck, I have way too many guns I am not using too. I use my truck way more then the totality I use the guns. Most, includng myself, I feel could get by with less then half the guns we have but I believe I could not get by with one less truck.