In 2011 motor vehicle fatal accidents in Vermont were at a decades low number.
That year gunshot wound related fatalities were at a normal level. For just that one
year Vermont experienced the anomaly of the number of gunshot related fatalities
being higher than the number of motor vehicles fatalities.
This one year anomaly was only created by the state having the lowest number of
motor vehicle fatal accidents in many decades. A clear windfall for Vermont.
Before 2011 the motor vehicle fatality number had been the higher number. Since
2011 the motor vehicles fatalities returned to a typical number and the anomaly has
not been repeated. Easy to understand. An advanced degree in mathematics is
not needed to grasp this was a one year exception to the norm.
Yet, those working to promote a gun control agenda have tried to use this 2011
numbers aberration to argue for more legal restrictions on gun ownership and use.
Vermont has an extremely high rate of firearm ownership and one of the nation's
highest percentages of residents who are hunters. Vermont also continuously has
one of the very lowest crime rates in the country. Vermont is also one of the safest
states in the nation in regard to gunshot wound related homicides or accidental deaths.
The reason that Vermont is among the very safest of states is because of the excellent
character of our citizens and the great work done by the hunter education instructors and
firearms safety instructors. Vermont's gun laws are also very effective in deterring crime.
All of that said, it unrealistic to use a one year record low level of motor vehicle fatal
accidents in 2011 to justify a gun control agenda today.
