I discontinued the syndication of my political drawings some 30 years ago .... however, it's surprising (and depressing) to me to see how many of those images remain relevant. So, as a signpost to the future, here's a bit of the past ...
Guns Don't Kill People, People WITH GUNS Do
Dan Hubig © 1987
John Swartzberg,a clinical professor emeritus for the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, considers gun violence a public safety crisis of almost unprecedented scope.
“On an average year, we have between 15 to 30 thousand deaths associated with influenza,” says Swartzberg. “But the annual statistics for gun-related deaths exceed that. So how do we respond with influenza? We dedicate billions to vaccinations, to therapeutics, to research. It’s the same with deaths from vehicular accidents. We devote a tremendous amount of money to developing safer cars and maintaining our roads. But we’re not supposed to research gun violence—or as far as the NRA is concerned, even discuss it. Between 2001 and 2013, more people were killed in the United States by guns than drug overdoses, AIDS, terrorism and war combined. So things have to change.”
Some surprising gun related statistics:
- Despite Professor Swartzberg's correct numbers, the worst year for gun deaths over the last 20 years was 1993, when the rate (per 100,000 population) was more than twice what it is now. The rate is not consistent but has been going down during this time frame with 2014 being the lowest. *
- Hand gun homicide rates have dropped slightly from 1999 (2.39) to 2014 (1.74) **
- Justified homicides have remained consistent over the last 20 years.*
- Actual number of legal firearm importations was 700,000 in 1986, in 2011 the number was 3,250,000 ! *
* Statistics from the international study of guns and violence by the University of Sydney (Australia).
** US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
© Dan Hubig, 2016
Dan Hubig is an illustrator who lives in San Francisco, he was the political cartoonist, art director, illustrator, layout artist and newspaper deliveryman for the original Austin Sun.
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