# Why does America lose its head over 'terror' but ignore its daily gun deaths? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 22, 2013, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392 "2013-04-22T09:21:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/41 "2013-04-22T18:26:38Z")
The vast majority of gun deaths are either suicides or murder by someone who knows the victim. Most Americans don’t want to commit suicide nor do they have enemies who want to kill them. Except in the case of random terror type acts like this. Better question: Why does that Guardian Editorialist get his panties in such a bunch about what we do in our country when he doesn’t live here or even know what he’s talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/42 "2013-04-22T18:28:39Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The vast majority of gun deaths are either suicides or murder by someone who knows the victim. Most Americans don’t want to commit suicide nor do they have enemies who want to kill them. Except in the case of random terror type acts like this. > > Better question: Why does that Guardian Editorialist get his panties in such a bunch about what we do in our country when he doesn’t live here or even know what he’s talking about? Or alternatively, “What do Americans think about British gun control laws?” Answer, “We don’t.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/43 "2013-04-22T18:35:39Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Or alternatively, “What do Americans think about British gun control laws?” > > Answer, “We don’t.” But we do lose our heads over their Princesses even more than they do! ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/44 "2013-04-22T19:12:31Z")
I’m not sure there is a direct correlation between how “Americans” reacted and how “American media” reacted. Increasingly, mainstream media exists in a bubble. I am betting Americans in general were a lot calmer about the Boston bombing than the media. That is not saying a lot, given the media’s hyperkinetic response. I guess I would say, it was a matter of mild interest to folks living outside Boston and environs, no more. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/45 "2013-04-22T23:11:44Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > That’s like saying, “why did we get upset about Pearl Harbor, when we had cancer and people drinking themselves to death?” To some level when you start talking about deaths from “cancer”, or “cigarette smoking”, or “alcoholism”, or “obesity related disease” what you’re really talking about is health and wellness. Health and wellness are the results of collective decision making of millions of people. There are not many tools in the toolbox for government to influence those, basically you can regulate, ban, tax when it comes to issues like that. If you look at “ordinary” gun violence by and large it bears a lot in common with any other health and wellness issue except that unlike eating yourself to death guns often have “collateral damage” (but that does not make it dissimilar from alcohol and tobacco.) > > Also, health and wellness are only ever going to be so successful. On some level when you life expectancy is pushing 80 years and people are dying from various things that starts to just like like “human life” to me. People are always going to be dying of something. > > But a major terrorist attack or a military attack like Pearl Harbor, unlike health and wellness issues, are exactly the sort of thing governments were created to handle and our toolbox there is far vaster. You are right. I should not have emphasized the comparisons. I really care more about how excessive reporting about terrorist attacks plays into the terrorist agenda. In the current case, these two brothers should not have the power to lead public discourse for weeks. And, I think the excessive reporting also contributes to the unbalanced behavior the OP and article discuss. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/46 "2013-04-22T23:34:25Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Can you quote the parts that “ring true” so we can debate them? Or, pick your top favoriet or top 3 and let’s have a go. To be honest I’d rather not. I deliberately steered away from giving an opinion other than saying how parts of it “rang true” for me. I don’t want to get in the position of defending any particular views, I’m interested in reading the debate that has been going on based on people’s reaction to the article and responses to each other. A lot of the responses have been very interesting, from both sides of the discussion. One thing that stands out for me, again viewing from outside, is the key part of US culture that most outsiders really can’t get their heads around. That is, that guns and gun ownership is so ingrained in the culture that it takes something big and unusual (like someone going to a primary school and shooting kids) to get people stirred up for a while. The rest of the time, gun deaths are just routine. We have guns, people will shoot people; we have cars, people will have accidents and drive drunk or speed; we have fast food so people will get fat. It seems that it’s just accepted as part of society in a way that I as an outsider can’t get my head around and I expect many others can’t either. That’s why I raised the topic, to see what people would contribute. I’m looking forward to reading more. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/47 "2013-04-23T00:55:08Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > **Why does America lose its head over ‘terror’ but ignore its daily gun deaths?** Because there is no terrorist lobby. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/48 "2013-04-23T00:56:11Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > Or alternatively, “What do Americans think about British gun control laws?” > > Answer, “We don’t.” And shame on us. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/49 "2013-04-23T02:45:23Z")
I rather doubt the OP runs his/her life with a constant flow of thoughtful and detailed risk-benefit analysis. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/50 "2013-04-23T06:39:28Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Neither are the kids who are killed every year by drunk drivers. You’d probably have a point if alcohol only killed those who drink it, but sadly this is the real world. We have laws against both things, however, and enforce them when we catch those who do such things. But we do more than just enforce it after the fact. Bartenders and other professional servers are liable. Cops are out looking for drunk drivers. especially during times of high risk. In California drivers are encouraged to call 911 if they see someone driving as if they were drunk. And of course there is an education campaign, which even sellers of alcohol are for. The situation with guns today is like alcohol in the old days, when we all laughed at Dean Martin and at the concept of drunk driving. If gun sellers were held liable for the damage their guns did if they did not do due diligence, or if morons who leave loaded guns where children could get to them were locked up for a long time, gun sellers would be pushing for background checks. ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392/51 "2013-04-23T09:02:20Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The vast majority of gun deaths are either suicides or murder by someone who knows the victim. Most Americans don’t want to commit suicide nor do they have enemies who want to kill them. Except in the case of random terror type acts like this. > > Better question: Why does that Guardian Editorialist get his panties in such a bunch about what we do in our country when he doesn’t live here or even know what he’s talking about? I see no evidence he ‘doesn’t know what he’s talking about’. And, Jesus, of course other countries are interested in understanding the USA. He also writes for The Nation btw. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-america-lose-its-head-over-terror-but-ignore-its-daily-gun-deaths/656392.md?page=2)