While We're At It.....

[A Theist]

"Drunk driving fatalities are tragic accidents. I'm not willing to bet there are many people who plan, in advance, to drive drunk and cause a multi-car pileup which kills people."....however unintended, people who drink and drive are aware of the potential consequences even before they get behind the wheel of a vehicle....I don't consider them guiltless.

I don't consider them guiltless, either. In fact, I have a specifically venomous dislike for people who abuse alcohol, especially when it results in tragedy. However, I have a much stronger dislike for a person who uses a gun to murder other people because that does not happen by accident (of course, there are plenty of people who die accidentally due to guns, as well).

"Mass shootings never happen by accident."...and even more violence can be attributed to alcohol....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/11...21900.html

Notable in that report is that one of the causes blamed is poor control policies. Missing from it is a distinction between deaths due to alcohol-fueled violence and deaths due to the effects it has on one's health, which is interesting because there is certain to be significant overlap with alcohol violence and gun violence.

"Don't get me wrong, I do not favor a repeal of the second amendment, but I do believe that firearms should be heavily restricted "...seeing that alcohol can be attributed to more death and violence than drugs and guns combined, would you also favor heavily restricting the use and purchasing and selling of alcohol as well?

Absolutely. But, I do not favor prohibition. It's a much trickier subject than guns, which are designed specifically to maim or kill.

"Missing from it is a distinction between deaths due to alcohol-fueled violence and deaths due to the effects it has on one's health, which is interesting because there is certain to be significant overlap with alcohol violence and gun violence.....Here's a report that's more thorough....

"Alcohol related injuries and deaths in the United States is a major problem that has seen little improvement over the last decade. In fact, alcohol related car accidents kill more people between the ages of 17 and 34 than any other cause. Alcohol is also closely associated with homicides, suicides , workplace injuries, domestic violence, assault, and complications and death resulting from alcohol related disease like cirrhosis of the liver. Understanding the potentially injurious or fatal risks that people take when they drink is essential to creating an educated public that is more cognizant of the need for self-control over alcohol....While most adults in the country are probably aware that alcohol related car accidents are a serious problem, few are aware that the physical risks taken just by drinking are severe enough that thousands of people die from conditions related to alcoholism every year. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are more than 23,000 deaths related to alcohol each year that are not traffic fatalities or homicides, and 14,406 of those are caused by alcoholic liver disease.(2) Adding these totals to just the total number of drunk driving fatalities alone and we can see that nearly 47,000 deaths occur as a result of these alcohol related causes alone."

http://recoveryfirst.org/alcohol-related...e-us.html/