DEATH STATISTICS

There is an area outside of the presidents sex life that occupies a disproportionate amount of media exposure, political haranguing and spin doctoring.  One subject is gun control.  Another is the all-time killer tobacco.   The sources of these controversies are the anti gun lobby vs. the pro gun people as well as the tobacco lobby and the lawyers vs. the health department, practically all the doctors in the world and the intelligentsia at the "We the people" level. 

And, of course, our liberal government has jumped on these like water on a ducks back.  They are using them to steer the voters to their columns in the voting booth.

The politicians are more than happy to seize on these two controversial areas and use them to bolster up their own particular ideologies and get more votes and stay in power.  The key word is power as exemplified by staying in office till you rot.

And to hell with "We the people" who, according to the politicos and other power groups, "don't know what they are doing and are not capable of making a rational decision about anything".

Facts are flying left and right.  Some true, some half true and many spin doctored to the point of being unrecognizable. I have heard so many claims about the leading cause of this and the leading cause of that I decided to try and put everything into the same picture, so to speak, and  to show how each controversial item relates to the real world we live in. 

The nearest last year for which complete data is available is 1996.

The data have been generated by the U.S. Government's National Center for Health Statistics and the FBI,s Uniform Crime Report.  In the following table, every datum  has been placed in the same  context and in it's proper relationship to the every other datum in the big  picture. 

Incidentally, our liberal government has access to this same data even though it is tucked away in little corners for local consumption only.   That they continue to beat these same old dead dogs is almost beyond comprehension.  The answer is simple---Power.

There you have it--there is no spin doctoring here.   These are exact facts!  

Look very closely at these numbers and ponder the liberal media and liberal politicians who are continuously bombarding our consciousnesses with every possible variation of anti gun rhetoric.  They are addressing the cause of 6/10 of one percent of the total deaths.  Look at the numbers again and you may identify other more significant and more fixable pastures for the politicians to graze.  

Obviously there is no magic wand to cure all this overnight.  It will all be cured in the far future and, unless we are cloning ourselves for spare parts, we will live till our bodies run down or we get tired of it.  

However, there are some things we can and should change overnight if we can just get our politicians off their collective duffs and into productive action in support of "We the people".

Discussions regarding the big diseases are best left to qualified medical types. 

I will address tobacco, guns and drunk drivers.  Tobacco because it is, by far, the biggest "Bad Guy" in sight and the least talked about, guns because they are the smallest "Bad Guy" and the most talked about and drunk drivers because they are so easy to stop and almost totally never talked about.

According to the Center for Disease Control, Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing more than 400,000 deaths each year and resulting in an annual cost of more than $50 billion in direct medical costs.

Each year, smoking kills more people than AIDS, alcohol, drug abuse, car crashes, murders, suicides, and fires---combined!

More than 5 million children living today will die prematurely because of a decision they will make as adolescents---the decision to smoke cigarettes.

It is now well documented that smoking can cause chronic lung disease, coronary heart disease, and stroke, as well as cancer of the lung, larynx, esophagus, mouth, and bladder. In addition, smoking is known to contribute to cancer of the cervix, pancreas, and kidney disease.  Researchers have identified more than 40 chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause cancer in humans and animals. Smokeless tobacco and cigars also have deadly consequences, including lung, larynx, esophageal, and oral cancer.

Tobacco does not show up on the death chart because it plays no favorites.  It's spread across 6 of the top 10 causes of death  the medical examiner puts on the death certificate.

Tobacco use leads to about one of every five deaths in the United States and is the single most preventable cause of death and disease in our nation.

Yet our politicians in the congress and in the White House have little to say about tobacco.  They can't pass a tobacco bill and they won't classify tobacco an addictive drug.  The reason--Votes, Power, & the Tobacco Lobby and to hell with the 400,000 "We the People" who die from tobacco related causes each year.

Tobacco is the direct or indirect cause of death in 17.2 percent of total deaths.  On the other hand, homicide by firearms is the cause of death in seven tenths of one percent of total deaths.

For more about Tobacco go to Tobacco

Let's take a look at firearms.  

There were 32,563 deaths by firearms in 1996.  Of which 1,225 were accidents.  Without details, I can't address these specifically except to suggest the firearm owners surely must bear responsibility in some way.

A firearm was the method of choice for 15,503 suicides--almost exactly half of all suicides.   My perception is the suicidal individual would have found a substitute if the firearm was not available.  This would force him or her to use a more painful and lingering method.  I personally would not deny any individual the right to end his or her own life any way they choose.

There were 19,650 homicides in the U.S. in 1996; not enough to make the top ten.  In 15,835, or a bit over 80% of these, the cause of death was a firearm.  

This datum is subject of all kinds of spin doctoring. 

If you say 80% of all homicides were by firearms--that presents a grim picture. 

On the other hand, if you say that 15 thousand deaths out of 2 million deaths in the U.S. in 1996 were by firearms, that's an entirely different picture.  

In the overall scheme of things and from a statistical viewpoint, criminal deaths by firearms are not the all consuming earth shaking thing the politicians would have "We the People" believe.

President Clinton has the uncommon gall to bring the Brady Bunch, wheelchair and all, on the dais, time after time, in support of legislation designed to add another brick to the gun control wall. 

Military-looking semi-automatic rifles were involved in less than 1% of firearms related homicides before the "assault weapons" law took effect, and the same is true today. By comparison, 13% of homicides involve knives, 6% are committed with hands and feet, and bludgeons are used in 5%. For more than a century, semi-automatic firearms have been widely used for hunting, target shooting, and other lawful activities. Semi-automatic firearms are not machine guns, regardless of what gun control advocates want the American people to believe. Fifteen percent of privately owned firearms are semi-automatic. The remainder are manually operated

President Clinton claims new kinds of ammunition are being used to defeat bullet resistant vests and kill law enforcement officers, requiring an expansion of the federal "armor piercing ammunition" statute. No new armor piercing ammunition exists, however, and legislation proposed by the President would outlaw most calibers of rifle ammunition and many calibers of handgun ammunition. According to the FBI, of officers fatally shot during the last decade, 68% were not wearing vests. Of fatally shot officers who wore vests, 95% were shot in unprotected areas. 

(January 2000- Look Out - More Spin Doctoring by the Media.  Last week the Walker Texas Ranger show killed an officer wearing a bullet proof vest with a "cop killer" bullet.)

No law enforcement officer has ever been killed because an "armor piercing" bullet defeated a protective vest.  

Contrary to President Clinton's claims, the greatest threat to police officers comes not from "assault weapons" or "armor piercing ammunition," but from criminals and the justice system that fails to punish them.  Seventy percent of law enforcement officers' killers have prior arrests, 53% have prior convictions, and 22% are on probation or parole when they take officers' lives.

According to the Bureau Alcohol and Firearms, there are 65 million firearm owners in the United States who own 230 million guns. 

Seven million of these owners have legally used guns for defense while annual criminal gun use is less than 2/10ths of one percent. 

In a recent poll, 84% of Americans believe citizens are guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms under the constitution.  In the same poll, 75% of Americans favor allowing law-abiding citizens to carry firearms for personal protection. 

My perception is Mr. Clinton and the Brady Bunch are bucking a rising tide of pro gun feelings by "We the people".

For more about firearms go to  Gun Control

Drunk Drivers

There is one fact that leaps off the chart and demands instant action.  There were more drunk car deaths than there were gun homicide deaths. I am referring to the 17,400 fatalities due to alcohol related motor vehicle accidents. The solution is simple.  Five years mandatory license suspension for the first DWI conviction and five years mandatory hard time for any fatality in an accident due to DWI. 

As a licensed pilot, I am required to pass a periodic physical examination and further required to have my ability to fly an airplane confirmed by a qualified examiner every two years.  How many airplane accidents caused by drunk pilots do you hear about?  How many automobile drivers have their driving skills tested after the first driver's test?  How many drivers have their physical skills or their overall health tested--ever?

What's needed here is the same sort of vehicular driving permit controls at the federal level.

Congress should enact legislation to prohibit driving without a valid driver's permit in the same manner they now prohibit flying without a valid pilot's license.   Make it a federal crime to kill someone while under the influence with a minimum 5 years in the slammer.  Then watch what happens to DWI fatality frequency.

Now here is a cause Mr. Clinton can jump on with both feet and be supported by the entire population (except the drunk drivers).  He will no longer need the Brady Bunch. I'm sure Mr. Clinton could find any number of broken and maimed children to bring on the dais in support such legislation. 

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