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Comment by tormeh | Hacker News Reader

Let's keep, or at least not further erode, respect for guns. There are few things civilians will ever touch that deserve more respect than guns, and I suggest we don't cloud that message.

Hey downvoters, why don't you take that attitude to the army and see how they react? Professional gun-handlers tend to have a lot more respect for guns than you have. That ought to make you pause for thought.

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Automobiles do not require less care than guns. A lot more people accidentally kill and/or injure themselves and others with the former than the latter. Between cars and guns, I would say that cars are more due for a bump in respect. At least guns aren't so widely used so recklessly.

Not sure if I'm reading this right but per the NCHS (via the CDC)[1][2][3], in 2013, for people aged 15-24, ~6500 died relating to motor vehicle injuries whereas ~6000 died relating to firearms (although ~2000 of those were suicides -- not sure how that factors in, but it's probably important). Anyways, it seems like an awful lot of people kill themselves with guns, so perhaps we should just consider it a binary: if something is lethal, treat it with all the care you can muster.

Edit: drat, and the site you can use to get more stats: http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus10_us.html

[1]: http://tinyurl.com/qfqn5oz

[2]: http://tinyurl.com/on9lyfc

[3]: http://tinyurl.com/ov5je39

Wow. In the UK we see (from memory) around 4500 road deaths pa, and 4-40 gun deaths. It's not even close - you msg remember that America is the outlier for guns in almost all ways

Considering how often, and by how many, cars are used in comparison to guns, anything else would bee outrageous. According to your line of thinking, we should all drive drunk, since most people involved in car accidents are sober.

I don't know how you get 'we should all drive drunk' from a call for giving more respect to the danger of driving cars. The line of thinking you are following is not mine.

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