Snake Kills Man! When Will We Stop Snakes, er, Guns?! Asks Slate

Jamie Coots, a religious
snake
handler who gained notoriety as the subject of National
Geographic’s Snake Salvation, died last week due to
an untreated rattlesnake bite. In light of this, Slate‘s
William Saletan wants to know when we’re going to stop the fatal
madness surrounding snakes, er, rather, guns.

What?

Saletan
highlights a handful of accidental deaths in the last few
months, replacing firearms with snakes in each story. His point is
that “gun handlers” are “reckless” and “having a gun in your home
is far more dangerous than having a snake.” To be fair, Saletan
acknowledges that anti-gun legislation is often counterproductive,
so instead he advocates for a cultural reevaluation of the role of
guns in the U.S.

His claims run headlong against conventional wisdom, though.
Saletan fabricates an image of gun owners as comparable to a fringe
religious group in which members regularly and deliberately exposes
themselves to live, provoked animals in hopes that they will
survive if bitten. The firearm community simply does
not behave like this. Gun policy advocacy groups, shooting
instructors, journalists in the community, and individuals on
forums–well aware of the power of their tools–all constantly
advocate for responsible and safe use and storage of guns.

And, Saletan’s argument overlooks widely available data that
could provide context to his sensational claims. The Center for
Disease Control ranks
accidental firearm discharge below 116 other leading causes of
death in America, including diabetes, nutritional deficiencies, and
hernias. Fatal organ potrusions just don’t make for the same kind
of moralistic finger-wagging. Perhaps Saletan meant to give himself
a wider berth and include all firearm-related deaths (homicides,
suicides, and accidents). These account for 10.3
deaths per 100,000 Americans, which is still fewer than motor
vehicle accidents and drug poisonings.

Saletan calls upon the owners of America’s 300 million guns to
choose between their weapons and their safety. This is simply a
false dichotomy. Widespread gun ownership and low violent crime
rates, as demonstrated by a recent Harvard
study and
FBI statistics, go hand-in-hand.