Lashanda Armstrong Murder/Suicide

[nbblood 0]

With the recent murder/suicide actions of Lashanda Armstrong , and the similar Susan Smith murders, I believe it's about time we do something to protect our helpless children against violence from their supposed-to-be-protective mothers.

I propose an immediate restriction on sale of automobiles. All potential customers should be required to pass a background check with approval through NCIS. Any purchases should be held for a 3-day "cool-off" period. Only residents of each individual state should be allowed to purchase automobiles in that state. Since sports cars are simply not necessary and pose a significantly larger threat due to potentially higher speeds, they should immediately be banned. High capacity gas tanks that would allow murderers to travel further distances should also immediately be banned. I'm thinking maybe a national registry would be in order too, although you could argue you already have to register these violent instruments of murder.

Let's protect our kids!

Blues,
Nathan

If you wait 'til the last minute, it'll only take a minute.

[kelpdiver 2]

not enough. To be sure we're safe, we'll only be permitted to drive our cars to the nearest subway/bus terminal, where we'll enter a car-free zone.

[CanuckInUSA 0]

Quote

not enough. To be sure we're safe, we'll only be permitted to drive our cars to the nearest subway/bus terminal, where we'll enter a car-free zone.

You are on the right path, but still not enough.

We need our cars to do our driving for us as they take us to the approved car free zones. This way there will never be a risky of us using our cars to kill. The world of THX1138 is not too far away. In the 1970s this was thought of as Science Fiction. But in a few decades it will become a reality.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[piisfish 140]

we need better buoyancy on cars....

Sad story though...

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[wmw999 2,589]

In 2004 there were roughly 12000 homicides by guns.

In 2003 there were 450 cases of parents killing their children by any means (I'm not including abortion in there).

I'm not sure the parallel works real well.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[nbblood 0]

Quote

In 2004 there were roughly 12000 homicides by guns.

In 2003 there were 450 cases of parents killing their children by any means (I'm not including abortion in there).

I'm not sure the parallel works real well.

Wendy P.

Here's a little more credible and thorough source than Wikipedia.....ok.....a significantly more thorough and credible source than Wikipedia (and a little more recent than 2003 and 2004). See pages 41-43. According to the National Vital Statistics Report published by the CDC, in 2009 there were a total of 12,224 deaths related to firarms including accidental discharge (588), homicide (11,406), and undetermined (230). There were 36,284 deaths related to motor vehicle accidents, not even to bother accounting for vehicular homicide which isn't clear in this report.

What's killing our teenagers? See here , also from the National Vital Statistics report, it's not even close!

Sure, if you're going to compare ALL gun-related homicides to parents killing their children, you're not going to find any parallels. Admittedly that's what I made my tongue-in-cheek point with. But if you look at the whole picture you'll find that the threat of death by vehicle is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than death by firearm.

Ok, sure, it's apples and oranges. Many argue that automobiles are a "necessity", perhaps rightfully so. But those that don't own or like guns think it's ok to take mine or limit my choices.

Blues,
Nathan

If you wait 'til the last minute, it'll only take a minute.

[wmw999 2,589]

Your parallel in the original post was to people using cars to deliberately kill their children.

Cars in general are a different story.

And Wikipedia is quick; not up to date in this case (BTW, the graph does clearly show homicides trending down, so it's not surprising that they're lower 3 years later). Also, the graph source was the DOJ (via Bureau of Justice, a DOJ website, currently called the National Institute of Justice).

I wasn't objecting to guns. I was objecting to a bullshit straw man.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[nbblood 0]

Yes, I know. My original comparison was very tongue-in-cheek. Maybe I should've used [sarcasm] [/sarcasm].

P.S. You know I love you Wendy!

Blues,
Nathan

If you wait 'til the last minute, it'll only take a minute.