Quote:
Originally posted by X and Halo:
Although facts rarely influence debate, here are the statistics for leading killers (besides abortion) in the U.S. for 2004 from the National Center for Health Statistics (a division of the CDC).

1 Diseases of heart 652,486
2 Malignant neoplasms 553,888
3 Cerebrovascular diseases 150,074
4 Chronic lower respiratory diseases 121,987
5 Accidents (unintentional injuries) 112,012
6 Diabetes mellitus 73,138
7 Alzheimer's disease 65,965
8 Influenza and pneumonia 59,664
9 Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome 42,480
10 Septicemia 33,373
11 Intentional self-harm (suicide) 32,439
12 Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis 27,013
13 Essential hypertension 23,076
14 Parkinson's disease 17,989
15 Assault (homicide) 17,357

Items 1,4,5,6,11,12,13, and 15 are all largely preventable causes of death by changing the way we live. We should ban monosaturated fats in the US because they cause heart disease. We should ban smoking, cars (and probably skydiving), and soda because they cause emphysema, accidents, and diabetes respectively. We should ban girlfriends, beer, and cholesterol because they suicide, liver disease, and high blood pressure. At least none of the above mentioned are protected by our Constitution.

I note that #15 is homicide in general, not just homicide by guns (handgun or rifle). The rate for gun homicide is between 10,000 and 12,000 people. I'm not saying that murder by gun is excusable, but if we are going to ban guns because they kill a lot of people every year, we should ban a lot of other more dangerous common items like potato chips because they kill way more people annually.

If we are concerned about saving lives here, why then should we ban guns and allow abortion? Abortion prevents more lives each year than any one of the above 15 killers. 839,226 abortions were performed in the US in 2004, not including California or New York--the two most populous states. Just my 2 cents.
Wow...now how many people used heart disease to kill someone else?

I can see it now...

Cop: "We have the perp arrested and down at the station."

Reporter: "What was the weapon?"

Cop: "Heart disease!!"

Bogus argument, dude. Pretty much those that you noted as preventable - people do to THEMSELVES.
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"Nature has constituted utility to man the standard and test of virtue. Men living in different countries, under different circumstances, different habits and regimens, may have different utilities; the same act, therefore, may be useful and consequently virtuous in one country which is injurious and vicious in another differently circumstanced" - Thomas Jefferson, moral relativist