The Patriot Post® · Drug Deaths Nearly 6X Gun Murders
While the Leftmedia has been hyperventilating over America’s “gun culture” and the false narrative that the country is in the throes of an epidemic of “gun violence,” another much greater and fast-growing problem is for the most part being ignored. Appearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last Thursday, Deborah Houry of the Centers for Disease Control stated, “Preliminary data for 2016 indicate at least 64,000 drug overdose deaths, the highest number ever recorded in the U.S.” That number is twice that of all gun-related deaths last year. And keep in mind that two-thirds of deaths from guns are suicides. The FBI murder statistics for 2016 show 11,004 murders with guns — a little more than one-sixth the number of drug overdose deaths.
What is even more concerning is the precipitous increase in overdose deaths, especially over the last couple years. Not only have overdose deaths increased, but it can be argued that they have increased due to the government’s 2010 creation of stricter regulations of pharmaceutical companies. Call it the law of unintended consequences. It could be argued that government over-regulation exacerbated and destabilized what had been a relatively controlled problem. The opioid crisis is out of control.
Returning to the heated topic of gun control, the Left loves to suggest that more, and always more, “common sense” gun control laws will somehow limit the number of people killed by guns. What is conveniently ignored by these same leftists is the fact that since the early 1990s, gun-related crimes and deaths have significantly decreased while the number of guns owned has increased by over 50%. In fact, as Mark Alexander highlighted yesterday, it is Democrat-controlled cities where gun laws are strictest where one will see the highest number of gun-related violence and death. The law of unintended consequences, or rather the real human toll of anti-gun crusaders?
But hey, at least YouTube has changed its rules for firearms videos…