Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Which kills more? Guns or cars? The answer will surprise you.

Claire McCarthy, MD
Conditions
June 17, 2015
Share
Tweet
Share

Here’s a question for you: Which causes more deaths, motor vehicle traffics accidents or firearms?

I asked a bunch of people that question, including a bunch of doctors, and everyone said that motor vehicles did, by a lot.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2013, 33,804 people died from motor vehicle traffic accidents — and 33, 636 died from firearms.

They kill the same number of people.

I was really surprised by this statistic — mostly because of how we differently we think about safety with each.

With cars, we seem to just accept as a society that they are dangerous — and that we should make laws and rules to try to limit injuries. Along with licensing requirements that universally require that you show you know both the laws and how to drive, we have all sorts of rules of the road, we require insurance, regular inspections — not to mention car seats and seat belts.

It’s different with guns.

Now, I am not saying that that there aren’t gun safety laws. Of course there are. But they aren’t consistent across states (in Montana, for example, you don’t need a license or any safety training to buy a gun) — and they aren’t anywhere near as comprehensive as our car safety laws. Or — and this is what really strikes me — they aren’t anywhere near as accepted.

When we talk about introducing new motor vehicle safety laws, like ones against texting and driving, we don’t get into an argument about car rights. We would think it was absurd if someone said that it was their right to drive faster than the speed limit, drive the wrong way on a one-way street or not put their kid in a car seat. I can’t imagine someone framing motor vehicle safety as a personal freedom issue. We get that cars are dangerous. But somehow gun safety discussions end up being about rights — instead of safety.

Look, I am not trying to take anybody’s gun away when I talk about gun safety with my patients and their families — no more than I’m trying to take anyone’s car away when I talk about car safety. I am a doctor, and when something kills more than 33,000 people in a year, I take that thing seriously, whatever it is — and do my best to keep my patients safe.

That’s what I wish we could do, somehow — think of gun safety as a public health issue, not a political one. I wish we could take a step back and decide together that we want to keep everyone safe, and that we’ll do whatever it takes to understand and stop the deaths.

That’s all I want: to stop the deaths. From anything, including car accidents, poisonings, injuries, disease, infections — and guns.

Claire McCarthy is a pediatrician. She blogs at the Huffington Post, where this article originally appeared, and at Boston.com as MD Mama.

ADVERTISEMENT

Prev

Doctor, what next? The thoughts of a graduating medical student.

June 16, 2015 Kevin 3
…
Next

Pimping the patient: Please make it stop

June 17, 2015 Kevin 8
…

Tagged as: Pediatrics

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Doctor, what next? The thoughts of a graduating medical student.
Next Post >
Pimping the patient: Please make it stop

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Claire McCarthy, MD

  • Sometimes, talking to strangers is necessary

    Claire McCarthy, MD
  • Maybe God made teenagers difficult so we can let them go

    Claire McCarthy, MD
  • 4 mistakes parents make in the pediatrician’s office

    Claire McCarthy, MD

More in Conditions

  • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

    M. Bennet Broner, PhD
  • She wouldn’t move in the womb—then came the rare diagnosis that changed everything

    Amber Robertson
  • Diabetes and Alzheimer’s: What your blood sugar might be doing to your brain

    Marc Arginteanu, MD
  • How motherhood reshaped my identity as a scientist and teacher

    Kathleen Muldoon, PhD
  • Jumpstarting African health care with the beats of innovation

    Princess Benson
  • Voices from the inside: 35 years as a nurse in health care

    Virginia DeFranco, RN
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • “Think twice, heal once”: Why medical decision-making needs a second opinion from your slower brain (and AI)

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

      Anonymous | Education
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • Why a fourth year will not fix emergency medicine’s real problems

      Anna Heffron, MD, PhD & Polly Wiltz, DO | Education
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
    • Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

      Anonymous | Education
    • She wouldn’t move in the womb—then came the rare diagnosis that changed everything

      Amber Robertson | Conditions
    • Rethinking medical education for a technology-driven era in health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • From basketball to bedside: Finding connection through March Madness

      Caitlin J. McCarthy, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 55 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • “Think twice, heal once”: Why medical decision-making needs a second opinion from your slower brain (and AI)

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Tech
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

      Anonymous | Education
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Are quotas a solution to physician shortages?

      Jacob Murphy | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • Why a fourth year will not fix emergency medicine’s real problems

      Anna Heffron, MD, PhD & Polly Wiltz, DO | Education
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
    • Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

      Anonymous | Education
    • She wouldn’t move in the womb—then came the rare diagnosis that changed everything

      Amber Robertson | Conditions
    • Rethinking medical education for a technology-driven era in health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • From basketball to bedside: Finding connection through March Madness

      Caitlin J. McCarthy, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Which kills more? Guns or cars? The answer will surprise you.
55 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...