War on drunk driving a model for reducing gun violence

[wyldwolf]

What practical steps, within the protections of the Second Amendment, can we take to reduce mass killings and gun violence? Can such an effort even begin to make a difference in saving lives and preventing heartbreak?

Yes, it can. And we have a model of success to draw upon.

By 1982, more than 21,000 Americans were dying each year in alcohol-related accidents. Yet somehow by 2010, the number of fatalities caused by drunk driving had fallen to 10,228, a decline of more than half. We didn’t solve the problem, but clearly we have made substantial progress. We are saving more than 10,000 lives a year and preventing tens of thousands more from being crippled or maimed. Almost as important, over the years we have prevented tens of thousands of drivers from ruining their own lives by killing people while under the influence.

We did not achieve that progress by banning automobiles. We did not ban alcohol. In fact, no single dramatic change produced the turnaround. It was achieved through a broad, concerted legal effort backed by a fundamental change in what was deemed culturally acceptable

We required automakers to make their products safer, including then-controversial steps such as requiring airbags. We mandated use of seatbelts. We increased the legal liability of bars, taverns and restaurants that over-served customers, to ensure that those making money off the problem had some “skin in the game” in reducing it.

We instituted a national drinking age of 21, which reduced the number of minors involved in alcohol-related fatalities. ... More...


http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/12/19/war-on-drunk-driving-a-model-for-reducing-gun-violence/?cxntfid=blogs_jay_bookman_blog

[Recursion]

1. Good piece. I'm on board with 99% of it

And if the 1% I don't like is the cost of it, oh well.

[LeftInTX]

2. Jay has got some good points

[dsc]

3. He leaves out the fact that criminal penalties for DWI have been greatly increased

[cthulu2016]

10. And that raising the drinking age to 21 was

a ban for millions of people.

To say the war on DWI involved no sweeping changes... that's just a lie. Ask anyone with a DWI today versus a DWI thirty years ago whether there were sweeping changes in law.

Some would say that tripling penalties, quadrupling enforcement, outlawing possession for millions and ROADBLOCKS were fairly dramatic steps.


I agree that if possession of a firearm was treated like DWI there would be a dramatic decrease in guns, but that effort would require, as a first step, making possession of a gun illegal.

[customerserviceguy]

4. I find this a poor analogy

A cop can spot a drunk driving a car before he kills someone way easier than a cop can figure out who's packing heat, waiting to unleash it on unsuspecting schoolchildren.

Other than putting in biometric systems (probably easily defeated) to allow only the owner to fire a weapon, what are the airbags and seatbelts that make guns less likely to be used in crimes?

[ellisonz]

5. Smoking is a good analogy too.

[KittyWampus]

8. And seat belts.

[ellisonz]

11. One of the few times I get to say...

...thank you Ralph Nader.

[wyldwolf]

6. Author will be on CNN at 1:30 to discuss this

[cthulu2016]

7. Drunk driving is illegal

Sorry to demolish the author's argument so succinctly, but it is what it is.

Cracking down on crime is easier than cracking down on non-crime.

[KittyWampus]

9. The point is that Prohibition doesn't work as a sole strategy. Changing social norms helps greatly.