One set of parents from every US kindergarten class most likely will have to bury their child

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I keep suggesting golf carts on DCUM and people dismiss it. I live in a big golf cart city. They go about 15 mph and share lanes with bikes, walkers, and joggers. You just have to build cart paths. It reduces gas usage and fatalities, and promotes a healthier lifestyle. You can't use it for all travel but you can use it in town to take kids to school, shop, go out, etc.

And by "big golf cart city" I don't mean it is a big city. It isn't a big city. But it is the size of an average suburb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teen overdoses are the big threat.

Doubled in one year from 2019-2020. Continues to rise by at least 20% year over year since then.

Yes, they’re depressed trying to cope with gun violence

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would certainly love to see gun control measures passed but I worry the most about traffic safety. We are a car-obsessed country.

That's a mistake, as gun deaths have now passed traffic deaths as the biggest cause of death for kids. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/14/magazine/gun-violence-children-data-statistics.html

We should care about both. Countries that have taken dramatic steps to reduce one have usually also taken dramatic steps to reduce the other. Often around the same time in history. Countries like the Netherlands were motivated to totally redesign their transportation infrastructure back in the 70s because of the number of children being killed in traffic accidents, and they also passed strict gun control laws around the same time. It's a reflection of a culture that highly values the safety and welfare of children.

These countries also do things like give money to all families so they can feed and clothe their kids regardless off income (Finland) or provide extensive post-natal care and parental leaves and subsidized childcare, and this is done largely to benefit kids, not parents (though it does benefit parents). The idea is that children deserve the best possible start in life. And this stuff isn't restricted to Scandinavia. You see more child-centric policies in Africa, Asia, the Mid-East, than you do in the US. Often these policies are portrayed as feminist or pro-women, but that's not how they are conceptualized elsewhere. They are pro-child.

Americans do not value children. We do not value their lives, their education, their happiness. Our individualistic culture extends even to children. It's like a cult.

Scandinavian counties are not the be all , end all of nirvana. I know from experience. I have an idea, don't have children you can't afford to support, that what DH and I did when planning our family. We knew our income potential and its' limits and although both of us would have loved a large family it was two and done for us. It's what we both knew we could comfortably afford and support without depending on handouts from the government.

Oh god, not the government handouts argument. You have no problem taking a mortgage deduction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would certainly love to see gun control measures passed but I worry the most about traffic safety. We are a car-obsessed country.

Gun deaths have actually superseded car crashes as the number one cause of death for children, in the US as a whole as well as here in Virginia. I also worry about car crashes, not saying it's not worth the effort, but it just shows how serious gun violence has gotten when it kills even more kids than cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would certainly love to see gun control measures passed but I worry the most about traffic safety. We are a car-obsessed country.

That's a mistake, as gun deaths have now passed traffic deaths as the biggest cause of death for kids. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/14/magazine/gun-violence-children-data-statistics.html

We should care about both. Countries that have taken dramatic steps to reduce one have usually also taken dramatic steps to reduce the other. Often around the same time in history. Countries like the Netherlands were motivated to totally redesign their transportation infrastructure back in the 70s because of the number of children being killed in traffic accidents, and they also passed strict gun control laws around the same time. It's a reflection of a culture that highly values the safety and welfare of children.

These countries also do things like give money to all families so they can feed and clothe their kids regardless off income (Finland) or provide extensive post-natal care and parental leaves and subsidized childcare, and this is done largely to benefit kids, not parents (though it does benefit parents). The idea is that children deserve the best possible start in life. And this stuff isn't restricted to Scandinavia. You see more child-centric policies in Africa, Asia, the Mid-East, than you do in the US. Often these policies are portrayed as feminist or pro-women, but that's not how they are conceptualized elsewhere. They are pro-child.

Americans do not value children. We do not value their lives, their education, their happiness. Our individualistic culture extends even to children. It's like a cult.

Scandinavian counties are not the be all , end all of nirvana. I know from experience. I have an idea, don't have children you can't afford to support, that what DH and I did when planning our family. We knew our income potential and its' limits and although both of us would have loved a large family it was two and done for us. It's what we both knew we could comfortably afford and support without depending on handouts from the government.

.

Be careful about how smug you are with your planned children. My son in high school class of 2018 lost a friend to handgun violence. His family was in tact and his father is a physician. I dare say he was well planned for. Bullets can strike anyone, even in the high SES suburb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a picture that was taken at my 8th birthday party. 5 people are in the picture. Me and 4 others . The 4 others have all died. One drowned at age 21. One died at age 24 in a skate boarding accident. One died at age 35 skydiving the last one was also 35 and she overdosed.

Wtf

Where did you grow up? Ses level?

Aren’t sky diving accidents very rare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get that it is nice to pretend that this is just an issue in the African American community. But look at the figures. White Americans are twice as likely to die before 40 as white Europeans. Traffic is a big part of this.

What about Asian Americans vs Asian Europeans?

Honest question because Asian Americans have longer life expectancies than Asians in Asia

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I hate driving and our car oriented infrastructure. I hate that we are very lax on traffic violations including DUIs. We have poor maternal healthcare and a lack of safety net for young families who are scraping by to find sometimes sketchy childcare solutions. We have barriers to accessing healthcare. We have mental health crises and teens doing drugs poisoned by cartels. I hate it all. And I hate guns.

If we had any realistic lifeline to a job/citizenship (or at least work visa) in another country, we would seriously explore it. But it’s very hard to emigrate. I’m so heartbroken at where our country is headed, it’s starting to feel like a big failed experiment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hadn't realized quite how much more dangerous the US is than any other developed country.

This article in the FT makes clear that the chance of a five-year old dying before reaching the age of 40 is four times higher in the US than in comparator countries (UK, Canada, Germany etc). One in 25 US 5 year olds won't make it to 40, vs 1 in 100 in other countries.

This isn't just about guns, though that is part of it, but also about traffic deaths, overdoses etc.

When you think about it, it is pretty extraordinary that Americans tolerate this. I think many people on DCUM are pretty pro-gun control, and think of themselves as the good guys. But look at the fuss about the bike lanes on Connecticut or Old Georgetown. You are just as tolerant of young people dying, when the necessary changes to avoid it would force you to make any changes.

https://www.ft.com/content/653bbb26-8a22-4db3-b43d-c34a0b774303

That is an outrageous stat. What is wrong with us?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would certainly love to see gun control measures passed but I worry the most about traffic safety. We are a car-obsessed country.

Gun deaths have actually superseded car crashes as the number one cause of death for children, in the US as a whole as well as here in Virginia. I also worry about car crashes, not saying it's not worth the effort, but it just shows how serious gun violence has gotten when it kills even more kids than cars.

We could get rid of the guns and a lot of the car deaths as well. When I was an exchange student in Scandinavia in HS there was zero drinking and driving but plenty of drinking. Drinking and driving meant jail time period. They did not do it every.

[Anonymous]

Ever*

[Anonymous]

Republicans will never vote for additional gun control or to close loopholes, not even if their own children or grandchildren are murdered. Getting reelected is all that matters to them. The same is true of a few Dems, Tester and Manchin, come to mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could outlaw every gun in America and you still have people who want to murder 9 year olds. That didn’t happen 20+ years ago. Why?

+1000

This. I grew up in a lower class/working class rural farming community in the Midwest. One small high school with around 100 kids per grade. Pretty much every kid had free access to guns in the home, by high school age. Hunting was very popular among the boys, with many having rifles IN THEIR PICKUP TRUCKS parked in the high school lot. There were no shootings or gun deaths in our community growing up. Why? Guns are part of the issue but not the only issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could outlaw every gun in America and you still have people who want to murder 9 year olds. That didn’t happen 20+ years ago. Why?

+1000

This. I grew up in a lower class/working class rural farming community in the Midwest. One small high school with around 100 kids per grade. Pretty much every kid had free access to guns in the home, by high school age. Hunting was very popular among the boys, with many having rifles IN THEIR PICKUP TRUCKS parked in the high school lot. There were no shootings or gun deaths in our community growing up. Why? Guns are part of the issue but not the only issue.

Ok. If they had to have a background check or something to buy it, no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would certainly love to see gun control measures passed but I worry the most about traffic safety. We are a car-obsessed country.

Gun deaths have actually superseded car crashes as the number one cause of death for children, in the US as a whole as well as here in Virginia. I also worry about car crashes, not saying it's not worth the effort, but it just shows how serious gun violence has gotten when it kills even more kids than cars.

Car deaths plummeted. Yes gun deaths are up but nowhere near historical car deaths.