Gun control discussion

[Lady's Human]

The "trucks are as dangerous as guns" argument is just plain silly!

Not silly at all. How many traffic deaths are there every day vs. the number of firearms related deaths?

Factor in the number of deaths which occur on mass transit systems, and personal vehicle use is just suicidal. We should all be riding trolleys/trains/etc. and ban vehicles. Think of all the lives which could be saved!

[Edwina's Secretary]

And today a woman from LA was arrested on suspicion of killing her husband with a coffee mug. Let's ban coffee mugs.

Okay...now that we are done being silly...let's look at the HUGE differences between vehicular accidents and shootings.

What a tragedy that those five people were killed when the tire blew causing a rollover. There will be an investigation. What could have prevented this horrible accident? Seat belts? Was the tire defective? Is the SUV unbalanced? People will be looking for what could have prevented the accident and how to prevent a reoccurrence. And the survivors of those who were killed will sue the manufacturer of the tires and the SUV. Because neither performed as expected. It is not expected to die from the correct use of tires or SUVs.

Now...let's replace the SUV with a gun. You can pick the style and caliber. Five people are killed. Instead of "how can we prevent this sort of thing" we will hear..."2nd amendment rights!' "I cannot be free unless I have a gun!" "If guns are controlled only criminals will have guns!" (Yawn...) Can the survivors of those killed by the gun sue the manufacturer of the gun? Of course not because...and here it comes...the gun performed as expected...it killed...

So there you have it...to compare vehicular deaths...or deaths by coffee mugs to death by shooting - is fallacious at best. A bit like a shell game where the con artist gets you to see things that aren't really there!

[Lady's Human]

Quite the contrary. If you figure the statistical probabilities of death from firearms (# of firearms vs number of deaths annually) vs the number of deaths by vehicle (again, use the same calculation) the motor vehicle is far, far more likely to kill when operated as designed. There are more firearms than vehicles in the United States, and far more vehicular deaths, be they homicides (vehicular homicide is a fairly common charge) or other incidents. In a vehicular homicide, the vehicle performed as designed, and someone died, therefore the end conclusion using your logic is the same, vehicles MUST be banned.

[RICHARD]

..Tennis referee arrested in LA death of husband

By LINDA DEUTSCH (AP Special Correspondent) | The Associated Press – 12 hours ago

.....LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A professional tennis referee from Los Angeles who for years has officiated matches between the game's top players was arrested Tuesday in New York City on a felony warrant charging her with killing her elderly husband in April.

Prosecutors said 70-year-old Lois Ann Goodman, a longtime line judge on the tennis circuit, was taken into custody as she prepared to work at the U.S. Open tournament.

She was charged with murdering her 80-year-old husband, Alan Goodman, in their home in Woodland Hills, Calif. Prosecutors allege she bludgeoned him to death with a coffee mug on April 17.

When the death was reported, Lois Goodman told police it appeared to have been an accident and she had been out all day refereeing a tennis match, according to Lt. David Storaker of the Los Angeles Police Department.

''She arrived home and she said the house was locked up,'' he said.


In this photo taken in 2008, Lois Goodman is shown officiating a CIF tennis tournament. (AP photo)
When Goodman found her husband unresponsive in bed, ''she said she surmised he had fallen down the steps, had a heart attack and managed to get back upstairs to the bed,'' Storaker said.

''It was a suspicious death from the beginning,'' he added.

Los Angeles County coroner's office spokesman Ed Winter said Alan Goodman's body was immediately transported to a mortuary.

''We sent investigators to the mortuary, and we noticed that his injuries were inconsistent with a fall,'' Winter said. ''The autopsy revealed he had multiple sharp force injuries about the head.''

Storaker said officers later returned to the scene with a search warrant and found evidence inconsistent with Goodman's story. He said the amount of blood in the condo did not suggest a fall. They also found a broken coffee mug.

Winter said the coroner's office worked on the case with Los Angeles police and eventually it was ruled a homicide and presented to the district attorney's office. A warrant for her arrest was issued on Aug. 14.

A tennis official said she thinks Goodman is innocent.

''I've worked with her for years and I don't believe any of this,'' Annette Buck, director of adult and senior tennis at the U.S. Tennis Association, told the Los Angeles Times.

Buck described Lois Goodman as a good official and said she was arrested as she was getting on a bus to the U.S. Open.

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First trucks, now coffee cups?

[Lady's Human]

Tough coffee cup. I need to get me one 'o them.

[RICHARD]

Tough coffee cup. I need to get me one 'o them.

Remember, the end with the handle is the dangerous side?

[RICHARD]

I really want this this gun.....to take care of those that bug me.


http://bugasalt.com/faq/

[pomtzu]

Should coffee be banned too? Was the mug full of coffee when the attack started? If it was, he could have actually aspirated some and choked to death on it, and those sharp force injuries about the head could very well be secondary.