This week we have been treated to the ridiculous picture of Hillary Clinton giving her best stump speech, railing against guns. Those mean guns are out there are killing lots of people, she says. There’s over 30,000 people killed by guns every year, and we cannot let that happen, the woman continues.
Of course, everybody knows that very few of those killed are in a mass murder situation, and then there are those poor Chicago black kids killed by their black neighbors. There are accidents and suicides, Dick Cheney notwithstanding. By the time you work your way through the numbers, Hillary is obviously out to lunch.
Just in case you are curious, here’s the Wikipedia write-up.
” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2013, firearms (excluding BB and pellet guns) were used in 84,258 nonfatal injuries (26.65 per 100,000 U.S. citizens) [2] and 11,208 deaths by homicide (3.5 per 100,000),[3] 21,175 by suicide with a firearm,[4] 505 deaths due to accidental discharge of a firearm,[4] and 281 deaths due to firearms-use with “undetermined intent”[5] for a total of 33,169 deaths related to firearms (excluding firearm deaths due to legal intervention). 1.3% of all deaths in the country were related to firearms.[1][6]”
Of course, we all know that a gun is not necessary for suicide. My son killed himself with a CAT5 cable. You don’t see me marching to ban Ethernet cables, do you? That would be stupid. He might have used a gun, but we knew he was suicidal and refused to have a gun in the house.
OK. That’s a lot of folks being injured and killed with guns. However, it helps to take a look at the real story of deaths in the United States. Take a seat, because more people are killed in automobile accidents every year than in gun related murders, suicides, and mass murders.
But, wait. There’s even more to the story than Hillary Clinton’s raspy intonations. The number three killer of citizens in the United States is not guns, traffic accidents, or Coca-Cola. The third highest killer in the United States is our medical industry.
Say what?
That’s right. Over 100,000 people in the United States of America are killed by their medical doctors every year. No, this is not people who otherwise would have been dead, and the doctor could not get to them in time. These are people with major and minor illnesses that trusted the medical industry in the United States and died for their trouble.
There’s a term for this phenomenon, and it is iatrogenesis. I have blogged on this before, and it looks like a good time to remind folks of what’s happening.
Of course, Hillary doesn’t talk about this huge problem. Instead she homes in on a relatively small problem, but one with big political support, mostly from liberals who simply cannot figure out when to come in out of the rain. The gun control solutions are irrational. No surprise, there.
You see, with millions of firearms in the hands of Americans at the present, it is beyond rational to take those guns away. We are guaranteed the right to bear arms, and with the rise in terrorist actions world-wide, it is obvious that we need those guns.
When seconds matter, you need a gun. Terrorists and home invaders will not wait for the police to show up. No, they are long gone, and you may be long dead by the time law enforcement gets there.
So, our unthinking former Secretary of State can rave all she wants, but we will never give up our guns.
Guns don’t kill people, doctors do!
