Yahoo reporter compares number of death from cell phone use to gun deaths

[bluesea112]

I was just reading an article on yahoo about the number of deaths caused by cell phone use while driving. The author compared the number of cell phone deaths in the U.S. to the number of deaths from guns. He said about 3000 people die each year in the U.S., because they were using a cell phone while driving. He went on to say that 3000 is a small number compared to the number of deaths caused by firearms each year. Here is what he wrote about gun deaths in the U.S. If you would like to contact the guy who wrote this, he may be contacted through Twitter: @rickjnewman

(Comparing number of deaths from use of cell phones while driving - 3000 deaths - to firearms related deaths):
Guns. About 32,000 Americans die from firearms each year, including 1,500 kids. Yet vigorous activity by the gun lobby and a laissez-faire attitude among the majority of Americans have institutionalized gun violence as a fact of life. Occasional massacres, like the Gabrielle Giffords shooting earlier this year in Tucson, in which 19 people were shot and six killed, or the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre in which 32 died and 25 others were hurt, rarely lead to stricter gun laws.
Some municipalities, such as New York City, have bans on certain types of weapons, but they usually remain localized. And even New York must cope with a steady supply of guns brought in from states where laws are loose. Meanwhile, there's no serious talk of any kind of gun ban that would extend beyond the borders of a few cities.

[Gun Geezer]

I suppose it does no good to tell this guy that when guns are banned, only criminals will have guns. Tens of millions of law-abiding citizens own guns and never kill anyone. In the wrong hands cell phones are more dangerous than guns, as are cars, bricks, knives and baseball bats. Guns don't kill, people kill. Mine have been in my gun safe for 50+ yrs. and never killed anyone.

[Bobitis]

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Statisical analysis is only as good as those that claim it and their agenda.

Do we blame cars for traffic deaths?
Do we blame water for drownings?
Do we blame ladders for falling off of them?

Do we ban any of the above?

A firearm is a rock until someone picks it up. And THEN, the rock suddenly gains life and goes on a rampage.

Do cars, water, ladders, or rocks scare the socialists?

[bluesea112]

What wears me out is the fact that our battle is never won. We fight and fight, but as soon as we defeat an enemy there is another liberal standing behind him. We should not have to defend our basic right given to us by the founders of the country, but somehow we have allowed the anti gun crowd to have the upper hand. We keep having to re-fight the same battles over and over again just to maintain our gun ownership rights on a temporary basis. If we lose a single battle, we lose a portion of our freedom and rights permanently. If the anti-gun crowd loses a battle they have actully lost nothing. There needs to be a penalty for challenging the constitution and losing. That is the only way to deter the enemies of the 2nd amendment.

[jack404]

thats why they invented belt fed MG's , but we ourselves limit ourselves to not use them on those who would destroy all we hold dear ..

when the SHTF though , we MUST go door to door with long memories and clean the gene pool once and for all , cause if we dont , they'll surely do the same to us until there is no resistance and the NWO has 100% control

[carver]

We don't need a cell phone law any more than we need another gun law. God, in his wisdom, set up natural laws. One of which is survival of the fittest. If you are so stupid you can't drive a car, then you get what you deserve! Why would a parent give a cell phone to a teenager, and then hand them the keys to the family car?

[armoredman]

Odd, I remember reading that texting and driving kills more than alcohol nowadays, and the NTSB recently recommended making it illegal to use cell phones in any way while driving, including hands free. Mr Reporter, did you see that?

[Ken W]

All just a bunch of brainwashed propaganda. Two types of people spread that miss-informative garbage: ones that actually believe it and are on a crusade to "save people" and ones that know it's a complete lie but want to disarm the populace and make us helpless victims in their quest for complete control. The truly sad thing is that so many people really believe that to be "liberal" you must automatically be anti-gun, servile and defenseless. Personally I don't trust any politician no matter what side of the fence they claim to be on. All I know is that to be unable to fight back is to be at their mercy.

[Double Deuce]

75% of all statistics are made up anyway. Bobitis summed it up nicely.

[raven818]

The paper tore it apart this morning. It had a lot of negatives to say about the proposal, but what sticks out was " how are the police going to know "?

Uh, she/he who wrote the article obviously doesn't get on the road much. I see as many folks talking on their phones, as I don't.

I watched bits from her presentation ( the bill writer ). They way I understood it, a phone could be in a car, but not w/in reach.

[HunterAlpha1]

Originally Posted by carver

We don't need a cell phone law any more than we need another gun law. God, in his wisdom, set up natural laws. One of which is survival of the fittest. If you are so stupid you can't drive a car, then you get what you deserve! Why would a parent give a cell phone to a teenager, and then hand them the keys to the family car?

in most cases i would agree that people should suffer the consequences of their actions, that the government shouldn't pass safety regs on everything and anything that might possibly be dangerous if used incorrectly.

unfortunately, when it comes to texting/talking while driving, as with drunk driving, the stupid person usually isn't the person who suffers the consequences, at least not all of them.

while the majority of gun accidents are self inflicted, as are dirt bike, lawn mower, bungee jumping, and many other types of accidents, talking/texting/drinking/snorting while driving usually involves multiple victims other than the talker/texter/drinker/snorter.

while talking/texting while driving should definitely be discouraged, i still think common sense and innovation are the best solutions. i should think that hands free talking, for instance, would be no more distracting than listening to the radio or CD player.

[raven818]

Anybody but me see the story yesterday about the cop who dropped his pen, bent over to get it, and drove his squad car up the support lines of a telephone pole?

The figures that the bill writer was referencing, were bundled as " distracted driving ", she said it was in the tens of thousands.

That cop was distracted. He wasn't on his phone.

She took a popular idea, that folks were wrecking their cars and killing folks because of using their cell phones, and ran with it.

No doubt, talking on the phone is stupid and dangerous, but trying to blame every inexplicable car accident on cell phones, is just plain stupid.