William Rivers Pitt | An Open Letter to Lovers of the Gun

[Martin Eden]

178. Imagine no guns. Then, imagine no cars.

All of a sudden, all the guns disappear; poof -- they're gone!
What negative impact would that have?
What positive impact would that have?

All of a sudden, all the cars disappear; poof -- they're gone!
What negative impact would that have?
What positive impact would that have?

This is an exercise in hypothetical thinking, but just as valid as arguing that cars are relevant in a debate about guns.

Personally, I think cars are just about the worst form of transportation we could have devised. Besides catastrophic injuries and deaths we spend astronomical sums of money buying cars, maintaining cars, insuring cars, on roads, on parking lots, on traffic police, on the courts, etc. The infrastructure for the automobile takes up vast amounts of real estate compared to modern light rail, and cars transform a huge volume finite energy resources into pollution and greenhouse gases.

I think we should have started replacing roads with a comprehensive public transportation system decades ago, but if all cars suddenly disappeared it would bring the economy to a halt because the other transportation options are inadequate for everyone's commute.

If all guns suddenly disappeared, I think there would be very little if any negative impact while the positives are very clear.