Here’s a statistic for you: Second Amendment remedies have surpassed automobile remedies in Arizona. Via the Arizona Daily Star:

The report, by the Violence Policy Center, said Arizona was one of 10 states where firearm deaths outstripped traffic deaths in 2009, the most recent year for which numbers were available.

If you need comforting, you’re not going to get it from Arizona State Sen. Frank Antenori. He said that comparing shooting deaths to car deaths isn’t fair (waaah!), see, because most gun deaths aren’t accidental.

1. Oh swell.

2. What about the ones that are?

3. So what?

“Do you use a car in self-defense?” Antenori asked hypothetically.

Some people do, actually. Usually they’re drunk and just had a huge fight with their significant other. Or they’re just really, really pissed off at someone and sober. And driving. And don’t care what happens to their car.

Traffic deaths went down due to “the combined efforts of government and advocacy organizations.” Hence, if gun control were more effective, if firearms were more regulated the way other things are, then the number of shooting deaths would fall, too. Oversight tends to, you know, protect people from danger.

OgodDon’tHurtMe, I used the “regulate” word!

Not to horn in on Captain Obvious, but deaths can be prevented. Imagine that.

While traffic deaths have fallen nationwide, gun deaths have been largely unchanged. If the trend continues, the report said, firearm fatalities could exceed motor vehicle deaths nationally unless there is further federal regulation. …

When you consider that more people use cars than guns, then the findings are even scarier.

The top states where gun fatalities were more common than motor-vehicle deaths were Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.