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>For instance, if enjoying a drink a few times a week was universal, but almost no one owned a gun. 1 in 3 own a gun in the US. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us

>For instance, if enjoying a drink a few times a week was universal, but almost no one owned a gun. 1 in 3 own a gun in the US. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/one-three-americans-own-guns-culture-factor-study-finds-n384031 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/one-three-americans-own... 1 in 2 had a drink in the last month: https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-co... From that same source, 88,000 people die annually from alcohol-related diseases, making it the 3rd leading cause of death in the US. Culturally, guns and drinking are the same order of magnitude in the US. From a death count though, alcohol dominates.

naasking 9y ago
The concentration of gun ownership varies markedly across regions though. Not sure that's true of drinking, which I expect would be pretty universal. In any case, at worst your data suggests that banning guns in the US would be just as impossible as banning alcohol turned out to be, which very well could be true.
davedx 9y ago
I have another take (I have an alcoholic relative and know quite a few people who don't drink at all) on this. An alcoholic has many chances to turn his or her life around. It's a long, slow story. It's not inevitable. With the right support, it's possible to stop drinking and lead a healthy and fulfilling life. Contrast this to the kind of events that result in deaths from guns in the US. The recent school shooting of course springs to mind. A bunch of kids were shot and killed. They had no chance. None. It's not just the end statistics but the method at which we arrive at them.
- PurpleBoxDragon 9y ago
  > A bunch of kids were shot and killed. They had no chance. None. Why did you compare an alcoholic that harms none but themselves with people who were shot? Wouldn't a drunk driver killing people be a more apt comparison?

naasking 9y ago

The concentration of gun ownership varies markedly across regions though. Not sure that's true of drinking, which I expect would be pretty universal. In any case, at worst your data suggests that banning guns in the US would be just as impossible as banning alcohol turned out to be, which very well could be true.

davedx 9y ago

I have another take (I have an alcoholic relative and know quite a few people who don't drink at all) on this. An alcoholic has many chances to turn his or her life around. It's a long, slow story. It's not inevitable. With the right support, it's possible to stop drinking and lead a healthy and fulfilling life. Contrast this to the kind of events that result in deaths from guns in the US. The recent school shooting of course springs to mind. A bunch of kids were shot and killed. They had no chance. None. It's not just the end statistics but the method at which we arrive at them.

PurpleBoxDragon 9y ago
> A bunch of kids were shot and killed. They had no chance. None. Why did you compare an alcoholic that harms none but themselves with people who were shot? Wouldn't a drunk driver killing people be a more apt comparison?