2020: Twice as Many Traffic Deaths as Firearm Homicides

Twice as many people died in traffic accidents than were killed in firearm homicides in the United States in 2020.

This is news is pertinent because the left has spent years urging firearms be regulated like cars in order to make firearms safer and reduce gun violence.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicates there were 38,824 traffic fatalities in 2020; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points to 19,384 firearm homicides in the same year.

Again, it was only a few years ago that the left was fervently pushing for guns to be regulated like cars.

Below are a few examples:

• On January 8, 2015, Breitbart News noted The Economist’s argument that restrictions/regulations on driving led to safer streets while a lack of laws on guns meant “death by guns [has] been trending slightly upward.”
• On January 11, 2015, Breitbart News reported on Vice News arguing the government needs to treat guns like cars and regulate them heavily.
• On June 15, 2015, Breitbart News pointed to  Father Michael Pfleger’s call to “ban high capacity magazines” and to “title guns like cars.”

Later in 2015, Breitbart News observed Duke researcher Chris Conover’s work on gun ownership versus car ownership, which showed owning a car was “80 percent” riskier than owning a gun, as it relates to the lives of others.

Writing in Forbes, Conover pointed to myriad arguments put forth by gun control groups on the topic–all of them contending that the level of gun deaths versus the level of car deaths shows gun ownership is more dangerous than car ownership. But Conovor clarified that those making these claims are basing them on the number of deaths–gun-related deaths vs car-related deaths–without taking into account how many tens of millions more guns there are than cars in this country.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.