There was mass carnage yesterday on the Venice Beach boardwalk near LA when a man used his high-powered automobile to run over 12 people – killing one of them and sending the remainder to the hospital.

News  story here:

The black car – a color typically used by the military – was used by a young man in his 20s – probably a loner. He may have bought the car without a background check, since these are not mandatory in California.

[amazon asin=0226493660&template=*lrc ad (left)]Anyone can just go out and buy a car “under the table” – from an unlicensed seller. There are no laws requiring that high-powered cars be kept securely stored, with their ignitions disabled or locked so that unauthorized people can’t just jump in and go.

Perhaps this is why so many innocent people are harmed – and killed – by high-powered cars in the United States every year.The death toll is in the tens of thousands annually – a tsunami of blood and guts compared with the dozen or so mass shootings that have taken place during the past several years. Why, not a day goes by without children being killed by high-powered cars.

And not just high-powered cars, either. What about all those Saturday Night Specials? You know –  hoopties people buy for just a few hundred bucks?

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Strangely, there have been no calls for an immediate ban on the sale of high-powered, menacing-looking automobiles. Nor even calls for reasonablebackground checks. No demand that drivers be trained and demonstrate competence behind the wheel.

Merely that they pay a fee.

Where is Mothers Against Hemi Chryslers? Where is President Obama? Doesn’t he care?

“We” need sensible car control, after all.

No?

Could it be because unlike guns – which many people (especially the people who want to ban them) don’t possess themselves – cars are a familiar tool used by just about everyone? Because it would be inconvenient to ban cars – or hamstring their use to such an extent that most people – including the suburbanites who favor “sensible” gun control – would be unable to use them or unwilling to endure the hassles involved?

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