At a public debate with Gun Free South Africa advocates in Cape Town. A Dr. Van As, of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, made the following statements to Dr Peter Hammond. Dr Van As had called for tougher gun laws because he was sick and tired of treating children wounded and crippled by gun fire.
In trying to understand the situation and for clarity Dr Hammond asked of him the following: “How many of these children are gang members or criminals that were shot by police, or in self defence, by victims of their crimes?” Dr Van As answer was: “All of them!”
Investigation, later reviled out of all the patients seen that only four patients a month at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital were gunshot victims, and almost all of those were from illegal guns in the hands of gangsters, many of the patients were actually gang members themselves.
The Main Causes of Injury to Children
It does not seem logical to disarm licensed firearm owners when they are not even the problem. But further research revealed that the vast majority of casualties admitted to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital that year were for falls (2,338 cases), motor vehicle accidents (1,030), burns (532), assault with blunt or sharp instruments (208), and poisoning (744). Even dog bites (91) were more numerous than firearm wounds (50) for that year.
Vastly more children die each year from bicycle accidents, car accidents and drownings than from firearms. Children are 1,450% more likely to die of a car accident than from a firearm. Should we outlaw all motor vehicles?
Doctors Kill More People than Firearms Do
Actually, vastly more people die of medical malpractice each year than from firearms. The American Medical Association recognized that 93,000 patients die each year due to medical malpractice by doctors. Another 110,000 patients die from unforeseen reactions to prescribed medicines.
We can also add the number of babies killed by doctors through abortion. Approximately 80,000 babies are killed by abortion, legally, with tax payers money, in South Africa alone, each year. In the light of the fact that doctors kill more people each year than firearms do, it seems very hypocritical for any medical officer to blame a cold, metal inanimate object, a tool, for the evil that some people do.
Armed Citizens Save Lives
However, we recognize that doctors save more lives than they take. And that is exactly the same for motor vehicles and firearms. Transport carries life-giving food and medicines to those who most need it, and patients to hospitals where they will be treated.
Everyday countless crimes are prevented, hundreds of potential victims are protected, and many tragedies are averted, by armed citizens. Armed citizens save lives, but unarmed citizens all too often become helpless victims.
