Fan the fire....
Every day, about 32 people in the United States die in drunk-driving crashes — that's one person every 45 minutes. In 2020, 11,654 people died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic deaths — a 14% increase from 2019. These deaths were all preventable - NHTSA.
229 children ages 0–14 years were killed in crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver in 2020 - CDC.
Why no outrage at this number of 0-14 killed? Likely similar a number of 0-14 every year. The DUI death number will certainly increase when including ages 15-18 (to match school-age children) are included but could not locate that statistic. Far higher than school deaths per year shown below. Why no outrage at the overall DUI death number? Why no cry to ban alcohol as is done with firearms? Each is unacceptable, but not entirely preventable no matter what law is in effect.
Should we ban alcohol? Tried that - didn't work. Should be keep alcohol locked up and you have to check it out to use? Is alcohol vital to life? Has it prevented life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of many? Absolutely. If the argument that firearms are not needed and should be banned, same holds true with alcohol. Think of how many needless DUI deaths can be prevented if only near beer was legal. You are far more likely to be injured or killed by DUI than a victim of a school shooting. But what about other shootings? What about other types of vehicle accidents? NHTSA projects that an estimated 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year, a 10.5% increase from the 38,824 fatalities in 2020. Thousands of people are killed in vehicle accidents which are caused by 99% human error. But we need vehicles. Well, I need my firearms. Which, incidentally, have never been used in a crime, along with million of others.
Should we have an absence of laws? Absolutely not. With laws, crime will still exist as this is human nature. Do laws prevent some crimes from happening? Yes, and that is best we can ask for since such activity can never be eliminated.
The school shooting data below includes stats from 1970 to 2021. Partial 2022 data can be found on the CHDS website - chds.us via campussafetymagazine.com.
- There have been 1,924 school shooting incidents since 1970.
- 2021 had the greatest number of incidents, with 249. The next highest year was 2019 with 119.
- Since 1970, 637 people have died in shootings at schools. Additionally, 1,734 were injured and 73 suffered minor injuries.
- 2018 was the year with the highest number of people killed, including the shooter, with 51 killed. This was the year of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting, which claimed 17 lives.
About 90% of school-associated youth homicide incidents from 1994-2016 involved only one victim - CDC.
CDC.gov:
nces.ed.gov
Violent deaths at school*
2018/19 - 39
2017/18 - 56
2016/17 - 42
2015/16 - 38
* A school-associated violent death is defined as “a homicide, suicide, or legal intervention death in which the fatal injury occurred on the campus of a functioning elementary or secondary school in the United States,” while the victim was on the way to or from regular sessions at school, or while the victim was attending or traveling to or from an official school-sponsored event. Victims may include non-students as well as students and staff members.
No child (or anybody) should be a victim of a violent crime. However, there will never be utopia where this exists. With freedoms, comes risks.
