In one-third of America, you are more likely to be killed by a gun
than in a car crash, a new Violence Policy Center (VPC) analysis has
found.

“Firearm-related fatalities exceeded motor vehicle fatalities in 17
states and the District of Columbia in 2013,” VPC’s report said,
citing the most recent federal data. “That year, gun deaths (including
gun suicide, homicide, and fatal unintentional shootings) outpaced
motor vehicle deaths in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, District of
Columbia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada,
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and
Wyoming.”

In those 17 states, there were 12,730 gun deaths, compared to 11,256
car-related fatalities. The states with the most gun deaths were
Alaska, Louisiana, Wyoming, Tennessee and Missouri, where the death
rate was 50 percent higher—or more—than the national average of 10.64
gun deaths per 100,000 people.

The reason why guns are killing more people than cars in these states
is due to two simultaneous trends. The first is gun nuts have
undermined sensible government efforts to require life-saving
controls, the study said, such as features that prevent guns from
mistakenly firing to limiting firearm accesss to people with violent
histories. The second trend is that manufacturers have militarized the
domestic market in recent years with semi-automatic features that were
never on traditional sporting and hunting arms.

“Firearms remain the last consumer product manufactured in the United
States not subject to federal health and safety regulation,” VPN said,
whereas cars have been subject to safety requirements for decades—such
as installing seat belts, head rests, energy-absorbing steering
wheels, shatter-proof windows, as roadway features have become safter
and penalities for driving while intoxicated have increased.

“As Dr. David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control
Research Center, notes in his 2004 book Private Guns, Public Health:
“[T]he time Americans spend using their cars is orders of magnitudes
greater than the time spent using their guns,” VPN said. “More than 90
percent of American households own a car, while a little less than a
third of American households contain a gun.”

The report contrasts how car makers have taken steps to prevent injury
and death, while gun makers and gun lobbyists have fought off many
sensible safety regulations.

“We have lots of safety regulations concerning the manufacture of
motor vehicles; there are virtually no safety regulations for domestic
firearms manufacture,” VPN said. “And as is the case with motor
vehicles, health and safety regulation could reduce deaths and
injuries associated with firearms.”

It continued, “Comprehensive regulation of the firearms industry and
its products could include: minimum safety standards (i.e., specific
design standards and the requirement of safety devices); bans on
certain types of firearms such as “junk guns” and military-style
assault weapons; limits on firepower; restrictions on gun possession
by those convicted of a violent misdemeanor; expanded prohibitions on
possession by persons with a history of domestic violence and better
enforcement of existing prohibitions; heightened restrictions on the
carrying of loaded guns in public; more detailed and timely data
collection on gun production, sales, use in crime, as well as
involvement in injury and death; and, public education about the
extreme risks associated with exposure to firearms.”

Moreover, the U.S. gun industry has militarized the civilian market,
where increasingly lethal semiautomatic firing pistols and rifles have
become the top-selling products. That trrend is documented in
gun-control expert Tom Diaz’s latest book, The Last Gun: How Changes
in the Gun Industry Are Killing Americans and What It Will Take To
Stop It.

On Friday, the National Rifle Association will hold its annual meeting
in Nashville, Tennessee, a state where more people were killed by guns
in 2013 than car crashes.

“It will include the largest firearms industry trade show of new
weaponry open to the public, where gun companies will prominently
feature military-style, semiautomatic weapons with high-capacity
ammunition magazines,” VPN said. “The NRA website promises ‘the most
spectacular displays of firearms, shooting and hunting accessories in
the world’ and encourages attendees to ‘bring your whole family.’”

“The NRA is planning a big party in Nashville this weekend, but in
reality there is nothing to celebrate,” VPC Executive Director Josh
Sugarmann said. “Our analysis exposes the shameful fact that you are
more likely to be killed with a gun than in a motor vehicle crash in
Tennessee and 16 other states.”

“The time has come to stand up to the NRA and its corporate sponsors
in the gun industry and regulate firearms for health and safety, just
as we regulate motor vehicles and all other consumer products,” he
said.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/04/h...m-car-crashes/