Partly it's because people don't agree on what a rational basis would consist of. For example, pro gun enthusiasts consider a suicide by gunshot to not count a

Partly it's because people don't agree on what a rational basis would consist of. For example, pro gun enthusiasts consider a suicide by gunshot to not count as a "gun death", whereas pro gun control folks generally do. This different turns out to be an enormous problem, because suicide by gun makes up approximately half of all gun deaths, thereby making gun deaths either seriously dangerous when compared to motor vehicle accidents, or not dangerous at all.