What if Automobiles were regulated as closely as Firearms?

Gun Sales Are Plummeting and Trump Wants to Help | The Nation: 

President Trump .... signed legislation that would prevent the Department of Justice from using Social Security records to identify mentally ill people and prevent them from purchasing guns. O

What if you could be prevented from buying ... or even driving ... an automobile because you had been adjudicated as "mentally ill"?

What if you had to get a special license before you could buy a car?   And if you already had a car, what if you had to go through another similar process before you could buy any car ... ever?   And if the state decided you shouldn't drive a car (for any reason), you would have to turn over the car you already own.  Without compensation.

What if you had to buy a special drivers' license before you could cross state lines with your car?  And what if the next state decided that your car was too small, or too large, or could contain more then 10 (or 8, or 6) gallons of gasoline?

What if your state decided it had the right to enter your home and determine whether your car was "securely stored", and they could take away your car if the answer was "no"?

What if you had to buy a special license, the process being conducted by the lowest-paid state employee, before you could buy a car with special features, such as a larger gas take, ability to operate on hi-test gasoline, or had more than four cylinders?

What if your car was so small that you could conceal it in your garage?  And what if the state could enter your home to determine that your car was secured so that your child could not access it?

What if you could only buy one car a year.  Which may not seem unreasonable, but what if your car was wrecked and you needed to replace it .... but you had already bought your "One Car A Year"?

What if your car needed a new muffler, and you had to buy a new one, but you had to pass a special "vetting process" and buy a special license which cost you $200 even if you could justify buying that car.

What if you wanted to teach your child to drive, but your state would allow only special "Training Programs" (vetted by the state) to conduct the training, and the cost was prohibited.

What if you wanted to buy an old clunker car, because that was all you could afford ... but the state had disallowed purchase of a "Clunker Special" car?

What if you wanted to lend your car to your neighbor, but you had to go to a car dealer and have him run the transaction through a national database to determine whether your neighbor (who already had a car, but it was in the shop) was legally allowed to possess ... not OWN, but POSSESS ... a car; or that specific car?

What if you kept your car locked in your garage, but your child knew the combination to the lock on the garage door and took it out for a spin.  Even though your child had a special license to operate (if not own) a car .. an accident would make you legally liable for any damages caused by the accident, right?

ANNUAL DEATH BY CARS:

ANNUAL DEATH BY GUNS


(See below for a statistical breakdown of cause-of-death: cars vs guns)
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Motor vehicle traffic deaths

• Number of deaths: 33,736
• Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.6

All firearm deaths

• Number of deaths: 33,594
• Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.5

(Source: Investors Daily

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http://www.investors.com/politics/perspective/gun-vs-traffic-accident-deaths-getting-the-data-straight/

(Source: Center for Disease Control)

Motor vehicle traffic deaths

• Number of deaths: 33,736

• Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.6

All firearm deaths

• Number of deaths: 33,594

• Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.5

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Curiously, the Investors Daily and Center for Disease Control statistics agree exactly.
Which one might be justified by assuming that their sources are identical.

It seems reasonable to assume that traffic deaths are caused almost entirely by accident, while deaths by firearms include accidents, but also include various versions of accident, homicide and suicide.

While it's statistically insignificant that traffic vs firearms have almost the same effect on American lethality, it's culturally significant that American love for automobiles  leads to the same end result as American love for semi-automatic firearms (and single shot, revolvers, etc.)

Note also that while motor vehicle deaths are not typically identified as (for example) "Gangland Killings", firearm deaths are not typically identified as ... any other cultural event.

Still, there is a small sector of America which is not killing itself with guns as quickly as by cars.

So why is there not as much public outrage over motor deaths as there is over gun deaths?

Possibly, that's because Car Wrecks are almost universally ACCIDENTS;   while ACCIDENTS are not typically the driving factor in Gun Deaths.  (Guns are more often viewed as weapons.)

On the other hand .. Gun Deaths have a very high rate of SUICIDES, which are not typical in auto deaths.

YMMV