Because perspective is important. From Wikipedia comes this graph showing the leading causes of preventable death in the US (from 2000):
Even just as it is, “firearms deaths” is pretty low on the list. But note that this is “deaths,” not “homicide.” In fact, it’s an important distinction. The 29,000 “Firearms Deaths” breaks down thusly:
Suicide: 16,586
Homicide: 10,801
Accidents: 776
Legal Intervention: 270
Unknown: 230
Homicide is only 37% of the total for firearms deaths, with suicide takign up the great majority. With that in mind, here’s the chart revised to showcase homicide alone rather than suicide and all the rest:
Note that now, firearms homicides are clearly the lowest of all the causes listed here. Compared to motor vehicle collisions (or the newly added “Doctors” category, covering the 44,000 to 98,000 killed annually by medical screwups), it’s barely a blip. So for those who use arguments like “American firearms murders scare me,” get some perspective. If you are a foreigner contemplating visiting the US for business or vacation, you really don’t need to worry about getting shot. You do, however, need to worry about getting run over. And don’t try the drugs, booze or smokes… compared to our guns, those are certain death. And poisons? Diseases? Clearly, you should avoid the US like the plague.