Death by cell phone - The Insider

American Handgunner, March-April, 2003 by Roy Huntington

I don't normally like to get off on a tirade, but now and again it seems as if someone has to point a finger at something and say, "Hey, that's stupid." We're talking "Emperor's New Clothes" stupid.

It seems statistics show over 2,600 people were killed in cell phone-related auto accidents last year. These cell phones--apparently of their own volition--caused thousands of people to crash their collective cars into one another, wreaking havoc and leaving bloodstains all over the otherwise pristine interstates. Some regions have already banned the use of cell phones while driving. Sort of a "How many children must die?" reaction, I suppose. Sound familiar? Yet, according to one article, people are willing to put up with this "sad statistic" for the "safety and convenience" of having cell phones. Note the emphasis on the word safety. I put it there for a reason.

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I call these kinds of statistics an indication of "An acceptable level of carnage"--deaths willingly tolerated by people so they may partake of whatever convenience, drug, toy, vehicle or pursuit they may want, regardless of how arguably useless it may be in the real world. Many of these pursuits exist well into the "just for the fun of it" category, which--as long as nobody really seems to care that people get killed doing them--is okay with me. And apparently with you too.

In this particular case, it seems we're also willing to kill some 2,600 people yearly so we can have the convenience of phoning our wives from the comfort of our SUV to ask if we need to stop and buy milk on the way home. Is this a bad thing? I like the convenience of phoning home to see if I need to buy milk. I also like the convenience of being able to call the cops if I see someone getting bashed on a street corner, or if I stumble onto an accident on the freeway (obviously caused by someone else calling home to get an answer on the milk question). Not surprisingly, cell phones can be used for "good" things too--like safety. There's that word again. We say that about guns too, but most don't listen.

Now let's take this where it's been heading and put some often-neglected perspective on these numbers. In the year 2000, about 600 people were killed in firearms-related accidents. Of that group, according to the National Safety Council, there were 60 accidental deaths of children between the ages of 4 and 14 years. These numbers have been steadily declining for the past 100 years, in spite of the fact there are more firearms in the hands of Americans than ever before. And, exactly like cell phones, firearms can be convenient, fun and, to some, arguably "useless."

However, like cell phones, they can be very important to have when the chips are down. According to Gary Kleck's definitive study on guns in America, those "useless" guns are actually used over two million times a year to protect life and property. Even if it's only one million, or 100,000 the number is still significant. How many lives were saved? How many lives were saved because a cell phone dispatched an ambulance--or the cops? Thousands? Tens of thousands?

On one hand, we have the numbers of cell phones multiplying at extravagant rates--with some 140 million in our hands and increasing daily--while gun ownership is already at its highest level ever. Yet, accidental gun deaths are at their lowest, while death rates related to cell phone use while driving are increasing. Dramatically. While the "acceptable level of carnage" for gun ownership is dropping, the same figure for cell phones is on the rise. Are cell phones "worse" than guns? Or, are the people who use guns simply more careful than those who use cell phones? I don't know.

My question is simple. I have yet to see millions of moms marching on the White House demanding to know the answer to the brutal question: "How many children must die before we outlaw cell phones, those harbingers of death?" I implore we keep our perspective here. For instance, tens of thousands are accidentally killed by physician's mistakes every year and now, it appears, that four times as many people are killed by the mis-use of cell-phones yearly than by the mis-use of firearms. Perhaps it's time to re-focus efforts in directions that are worthy of our time, energy and money. Gun owners are going in the right direction. Let's lighten-up here, get realistic and attack bigger problems with the same zeal the gun-grabbers display when the gun issue is on the table.

Besides, firearm ownership is a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. Driving a car is only a privilege, granted by states, and owning a cell phone is, perhaps, a nuisance at best.

But that's just my opinion ... and I could be wrong.

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Death by cell phone - The Insider

American Handgunner, March-April, 2003 by Roy Huntington

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