U.S. Senator Cris Murphy (Ct) is angry. He is angry because of the upcoming NASCAR Sprint Cup race has been renamed the NRA 500. He is outraged. "NASCAR has crossed a line" he said. He called the decision by NASCAR to accept NRA sponsorship an affront to the victims of the Newtown shooting. He accused NASCAR of crossing a line and putting themselves "in the middle of a political debate". He stated that by accepting NRA sponsorship NASCAR will be giving the impression that NASCAR and the NRA are "allies in the current legislative debate over gun violence." Maybe they are, maybe they are not. But using the logic that NASCAR in some way endorses everyone and everything that sponsors a race or an event is preposterous. Insisting that NASCAR refrain from making deals with sponsors that some people find objectionable is censorship.
Senator Murphy's ire is selective. He has said nothing about the sponsorship of races by brewers and distillers. He evidently has no quarrel with NASCAR's Crown Royal 400 or its two Budweiser Duels. He is not disturbed by the image of cars speeding around a track at 200 miles an hour festooned with beer logos. He does not seem at all concerned about the association of fast cars, aggressive driving, and whiskey. Evidently, his concern for public safety does not extend to alcohol.
The carnage on our highways caused by alcohol is alarming. In 2010, 10,136 people were killed the numbers are frightening. 18 people die every hour in alcohol related crashes our roads. 2,000 are injured. Last year 708,000 Americans were injured in alcohol related crashes, 74,000 of them seriously. In fact, one American dies an alcohol related death every 48 minutes. According to the CDC, excessive alcohol consumption costs the U.S. $225.5 billion a year and is a contributing factor in over 75,000 deaths. 1.4 million drivers were arrested for DWI last year. As for our young people, alcohol related traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for young Americans between the ages of 16 and 24. According to MADD, alcohol abuse causes the deaths of 6,000 teenagers a year. 1 in 5 teenagers binge drink. A third of 8th graders have tried alcohol.One in three drivers will be involved in an alcohol related traffic accident in their life time. Ask any parent what they are more concerned about when their child pulls out of the driveway on a Saturday night, guns or booze?
There is a curious phenomenon when it comes to violence and murder in this country. If a drunken husband shoots his wife a gun, it is the gun that will grab the headlines, not the booze. It is guns that will be the target of public wrath, not alcohol. There will be demands that gun ownership be made illegal, not whiskey. Likely this is due to the fact that many Americans have experience with alcohol. They are familiar with it. They have used it. Many have at one time or another been drunk.
The irony here is that the typical American is far more likely to die or be injured in an alcohol related traffic accident than by gunshot. The first concern of a parent when they hand over the car keys to their child on a Saturday night is not that they will be shot, but that they will become involved in a traffic accident. Despite the spate of sensational shootings, the fact is, that unless you are involved in criminal activity or are in a relationship with an abusive lover, your chances of being shot are remote. The same cannot be said of automobiles. Young or old, male or female, rich or poor, when you take to the road you put your life in jeopardy. The steady drip of traffic fatalities only occasionally gains notice. They have become routine.
Despite the strict laws against driving under the influence, people continue to do so everyday by the tens of thousands. Where is the outrage over alcoholic beverages? Where is the protest about the sponsorship of racing teams by brewers and distillers? What better way to discourage drinking and driving than to advertise whiskey on a race car? Why aren't Heineken and Crown Royal held responsible when their products are used irresponsibly and people die? Why is it than even though alcohol is a contributing factor to countless crimes in the U.S., the blame rarely, if ever, falls on distillers an brewers? Certainly, most drinkers use alcohol responsibly, but most gun owners handle their weapons responsibly too. If a man shoots another dead in a drunken bar room brawl you can be sure it is the gun that is gets the headlines, not the whiskey. It is remarkable that Senator Murphy can be so moved by gun related violence and so wary of the message NRA sponsorship of a race might send yet mute when it comes to violence associated with alcohol.. Perhaps that is because. Then again, it is remarkable how much death and violence Americans are willing to accept at the hands of alcohol.
Then there are the social costs of alcohol. How many marriages are broken up because one of the spouses owns a gun? How many people lose their jobs because they hunt? How many women are beaten in a gun induced stupor? How many people die on our roads every year because someone owns too many guns? My guess is none.
There is no controversy of beer and alcohol sponsorship of sporting events because most people do not blame alcohol for violence. They blame the person who is drinking alcohol. Alcohol itself is only blamed tangentially, if even that. We expect people to drink responsibly. We expect them not to drive if they have been drinking. If they do drink and drive,we punish them. If they kill someone while driving drunk, we punish them severely. When there is a spectacular or gruesome crash in which children die due to a drunk driver there are no public calls to ban alcohol. There are only calls to tighten laws against drinking and driving and enforce them more strictly.
To seek to ban the possession of firearms because some people use them criminally is akin to seeking to ban alcohol because some people drink recklessly. In both cases people die. Making alcohol illegal did nothing to make people more responsible or end crime associated with drinking. What it did do was foster a thriving criminal subculture. Making firearms illegal will not rid the country of gun crime. It will just make more criminals.
The great majority of Americans own guns responsibly, just as the great majority of Americans drink responsibly. We do not insist that sponsorships by distillers and brewers be banned because some people kill others while under its influence. We should not seek to ban the NRA's sponsorship because some people kill others with firearms. The irony of seeking to ban the NRA's sponsorship of NASCAR while ignoring the ubiquitous alcohol advertisements on racing cars is completely lost on the anti-gun lobby. The NRA does not encourage or condone gun violence. Far from it. They advocate the safe and legal possession of firearms. They also provide courses and literature to help ensure the responsible ownership and use of firearms.
In any case, I hope to see everyone at the NASCAR Budweiser Shoot Out race. Talk about the best of both worlds. We can talk about the Winston Cup then. You can be confident that no one will be shot at the at the Budweiser Shoot Out. You can be equally confident that people will get drunk and some of them will be driving home. To call the sponsorship of an auto race by the NRA an affront to shooting victims while turning a blind eye to the sponsorship of races by distillers and brewers is absurd. The NRA no more encourages murder than Budweiser encourages drunk driving.
Sponsorship is about business, not politics. This is a point increasing lost on a culture where everything has become political. We can only wonder how Senator Murphy would feel if Planned Parenthood sponsored a race.
