This is a short look at common sense. It is not a case for or against cars or guns; just some observations by someone who has driven accident- and ticket-free for decades, and got his first rifle at 8 years old, and first pistol at 16 with never an injury to himself or others.
CARS
Of the tens of thousands of car deaths in the U.S. each year, most are not accidents; they are a result of stupid driving. It’s that simple. Speed kills; a huge number of drivers exceed the speed limit.
Speed
At 30 mph it takes a typical driver 30’ to think about stopping and 45’ to stop; that’s the full length of an 18 wheeler.
At 60 mph it takes 60’ to think and 180’ to stop; that’s 2 times the speed but 3.2 times the distance, and an impact will be considerably more severe.
At 70 mph the total distance is 315’; that’s 16.66% faster than 60 mph but a 31% greater stopping distance.
At 80 mph the total distance is 400’, which is 14.2% faster than 70 mph but a 27% increase in stopping distance.
What if you drove 5 mph BELOW the speed limit? On many freeways in Texas, the speed limit is 70. Many drivers drive 79, knowing that they probably won’t get a ticket. A 300 mile trip will take 3.8 hours at 79 mph. At 65 mph, the trip will take 4.6 hours; that’s a difference of 48 minutes longer at a much more moderate speed, and considerably safer. What's your life worth?
Safety tip: Always drive 5 mph BELOW the speed limit and never get a speeding ticket and probably never have an accident.
Tailgating
The number two cause of “accidents,” or should I say, “stupid driving,” is tailgating. Watch how many times you see a wreck caused by one car ramming the rear of another. Tailgating also kills.
Solution: Always stay a minimum of 3 seconds behind the car in front. That one rule has saved me from a number of wrecks.
Safety tip: Obey ALL driving laws and rules and be 99.99999% certain that you’ll stay free of tickets and accidents.
GUNS
Guns are tools, just like a hammer or a knife are tools. Guns are the Great Equalizer. If I were a woman, there is no way I would go anywhere without a gun, whether licensed or not; preferably licensed and trained to use for self defense.
Guns don’t kill, just like cars don’t kill. People kill, through stupidity or malice.
99.4% of car deaths arise from “accidents.” 64% of gun fatalities are suicides. Common sense tells me that some head on car collisions are suicides that involve the murder of the innocents in the other car involved in the crash, so maybe only 95% of car deaths arise from “accidents” while 64% of gun deaths are self inflicted.
Some gun deaths are the foolish handling of a tool; they are not “accidents.” Other tools kill lots of people, like hammers, knives and ladders; most of those deaths are not “accidents.”
Guns are fun to shoot when handled with care; rifles are fun to shoot when hunting game you can eat. You might not like deer meat, but lots of people do; it’s delicious.
Many gun deaths are due to gang violence. I would guess that the balance of those killed with guns are not any more numerous than those that are killed with knives, machetes, and even hammers.
LIVE AND LET LIVE
You don’t ask that someone’s car be taken from him/her because they might kill someone with it, so please don’t ask that the State take away peace-loving individuals’ defense tool because some people abuse guns.
On the other hand, do urge your local police to punish idiot drivers with tickets.