Irrational Fear of Mass Shootings Can't Justify Unconstitutional Gun Control
Stinging insects kill more Americans than mass shooters do.
Jacob Sullum|Apr. 2, 2018 3:00 pm
Jeremy Hogan/Polaris/NewscomJeremy Hogan/Polaris/Newscom"Americans are now more likely to be shot to death than to die in a car accident," Margaret Renkl declares in a New York Times op-ed piece calling for more gun control. Since Renkl is talking about mass shootings, which she says "are no longer so unthinkable," the implication is that the risk of being murdered with a gun is on the rise. But that risk is in fact much lower than it was in the 1970s, '80s, or '90s.
To back up her claim, Renkl links to a CDC fact sheet that shows guns killed slightly more Americans in 2015 than car crashes did. Yet 61 percent of those gun deaths were suicides, while 36 percent were homicides. Contrary to Renkl's implication, Americans are nearly three times as likely to die in a car accident as they are to be murdered with a gun.
http://reason.com/blog/2018/04/02/irrational-fear-of-mass-shootings-cant-j
