Ban everything

Ban everything: Ahhh yes, the blaming of the knife for the attack in Japan parallels the stupidity of blaming of the gun for similar attacks in the US. As in London – with 100+ stabbings since January – police in Japan are investigating how they can rid society of that implement of death, the knife. Yes, you have heard this argument before right here in the US preached from the pulpit of the ignorant who, upon the occurrence of murder (mass or individual), preach for the elimination of the gun as if that has anything to do with the perpetration of the crime. It doesn’t.

Killers kill. The method that they use to kill is their vehicle. Blaming the vehicle – no pun intended – is akin to holding cars responsible for drunk-driving fatalities. Incomprehensively and lacking in logic. The proof? In 2002 (the only figures I have available) 28,663 people died from firearm incidents, 43,354 from motor vehicle incidents. No-one has called for the banning of cars have they? Or, looking at the statistics below, the banning of surgical procedures which kills 4 times the numbers that firearms do.

ACCIDENT PERCENT – deaths in 2002
Motor vehicle (MVA) - 44.3%
Falls - 17.8%
Poison, liq/solid - 13.0%
Drowning - 3.9%
Fires, Burns, Smoke - 3.4%
Medical/Surgical Complication - 3.1%
Other land transport - 1.5%
Firearms - 0.8%

I’m bringing these numbers up to put things in perspective. We live. We die. We die from many different causes. However in the case of accidents or murder there is a direct cause and that cause is not the implement. The cause is the person behind the car wheel, the gun, the knife. Sometimes we can do nothing to stop crazy people from killing except pray that someone around you is armed and kills the guy before he kills you. Remember that law enforcement have no obligation whatsoever to protect your life. None. They arrive AFTER the act is done and document the mess. That's their job.

If we’re going to start banning items because they’re dangerous we can start not with the knife or gun but with the car. That way we kill two birds with the one stone – remove the dangerous conveyance AND save the planet by getting rid of the largest consumer of oil around.

Wake up people, the world is a dangerous place. Banning things just for the sake of it does nothing except frustrate normal people and empower criminals and crazy people to whom laws mean nothing.