Should we treat guns the same way we treat cars?
I think we can learn a lot from how we regulate other industries when we talk about guns. Cars are instrumentalities of a lot of death and injury in this country. Over the years we have analyzed cars significantly. We have tried to figure out what parts of cars can be changed to make them safer. We have looked at what parts of cars are more dangerous. We have stopped the Pintos that exploded on rear end explosions after realizing that that caused undue death and injury. We have added seat belts, shoulder straps and air bags to cars. When people did those things, they weren't considered to be anti-car. So when we talk about regulating guns and making guns safer we shouldn't be considered anti-gun. It is pro safety. The other thing with cars is that we require people to be a certain age before they are supposed to use them. We require that they go through testing before they are allowed to use them. We require them to be licensed before you can use a car. We register cars so we know where they are. Now, the comparisons aren't automatic between cars and guns, but you look at the fact that it is something that different changes in how we make these things can make them safer, that different laws on who uses them can make them more likely to be used more safely. Different ways of regulating them can make them used more safely. I think we have a lot to learn. Again, the fact that we don't regulate guns at all in this country and we regulate toy guns, that we regulate kids' toys, that we regulate anything else more than guns says something significant about our society. We are somehow in love with guns and have a problem with guns and that because of that we end up with a lot more violence than other countries.
