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Originally Posted by fatbuckRTO
I have heard that. I thought you meant in media / news. I do hear 'toys' and similar words used by individual people describing their weapons, usually when they are collectors. Personally, I was trained to call a firearm a 'weapon' or refer to it by it's type (rifle, pistol). But, while it goes against my grain to call a hand-held firearm by even a word like 'gun,'* I don't see it as a major issue. Usually when I hear 'toys' or the like, I understand it to be a tongue-in-cheek reference. I don't consider a motorcycle or car a toy either. They'll kill you quick.
But while I don't see terminology as being a major issue itself, I agree with you that lack of respect for firearms is a huge issue. The 4 safety rules should be taught along with phonics, in my opinion. There are too many firearms out there to just assume that a child will go his whole life without encountering one.
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I point to the terminology used and the flippant manner of its use, because it's indicative of the root of the problem. Not because it is a problem in and of itself.
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I don't think that the difference in saturation or per capita numbers makes the comparison invalid. Deaths are deaths. If one type of death is worth risk management, all types of death are worth risk management. You say that you want to prevent the incident in the first place, so I don't understand why you wouldn't want to prevent automobile fatalities as much as you want to prevent firearm fatalities. My intent isn't to minimize the moral implications of firearm fatalities, but to realize that automobile fatalities are just as tragic. In my opinion, they are comparable in that there are identical measures we could take to reduce fatalities for both, but we have not taken those measures.
I differentiate firearm suicides because I believe that, if a person is serious enough to shoot himself to death, he is serious enough to find another method of suicide if a firearm is not available to him. I don't believe reducing the number of firearms in circulation will have any measurable effect on suicide rates.
We'll probably end up having to agree to disagree here. That said, I appreciate you actually addressing the argument, vice summarily dismissing it as "childish" like some others have done.
* I will call a weapon a 'gun' for brevity, depending on my audience, but it's something akin to running my fingernails down a chalkboard. Old habits, and what...
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Regarding the vehicular issues, see my other post. Given how much has been done over the years to prevent deaths by vehicle use, and how relatively little has been done to prevent death by firearms, which should I think requires more immediate attention?