Posted on 02/05/2005 7:09:14 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) today called upon the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to “take an important step for public safety” and close the Golden Gate Bridge, which has been a popular suicide platform for more than 65 years.
“Several city supervisors want to ban handguns in San Francisco on the mere presumption that such a law would prevent crimes, accidents and suicides,” said SAF Founder Alan M. Gottlieb. “Well, it is an absolute certainty that closing the bridge would prevent suicides, and perhaps many accidents, as well. And just for the sake of argument, one seriously might question whether any of the more than 1,300 fatal falls from the bridge since 1937 were cleverly-concealed homicides.”
As gun rights groups and activists, including many gay gun owners, began putting momentum to their efforts to defeat a gun ban initiative, Gottlieb turned his attention to the bridge and its horrendous body count. USAToday reported that suicides have tarnished the bridge’s reputation. The newspaper recounted how the San Francisco news media created a macabre circus atmosphere in the 1970s and again the 1990s as the body count approached 500 and then 1,000 victims, respectively.
“Social do-gooders have gone on the warpath repeatedly against firearms for the most tenuous of reasons,” Gottlieb stated. “The Golden Gate Bridge is a proven killer, and media fascination with jumpers is sickening. It has inspired hundreds of people to end their lives. Anyone can simply walk out there and jump, or be pushed. There are no barriers, no waiting in line, and there is nobody assigned to the bridge who can check the mental and emotional history of bridge visitors. It’s far easier to walk out on the bridge and jump to your death than it is to purchase a firearm in California. At least when a person buys a gun, he or she must complete a background check and endure a waiting period. But nobody screens possible Golden Gate jumpers. Unlike a gun, you can’t even use the bridge to defend yourself against a criminal.
“The only way to prevent future tragedies,” Gottlieb said, “is to close the bridge. We need to stop the growing body count. It’s up to the Board of Supervisors to act, and they should do it immediately. If it saves just one life, closing the Golden Gate Bridge is the right thing to do.”
The Second Amendment Foundation is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. SAF has previously funded successful firearms-related suits against the cities of Los Angeles; New Haven, CT; and San Francisco on behalf of American gun owners, a lawsuit against the cities suing gun makers & an amicus brief & fund for the Emerson case holding the Second Amendment as an individual right.
PING!
I love it. So how about it City of SF? Close that damn bridge, how many suicides must occur before we say 'enough'?!?
People don't kill people, bridges kill people!
People jump in front of Metro trains to end it all. Shut 'em down!
Yes, and there should be background checks and a 10 day waiting period to buy a car too, as many, many more people have died in cars than are killed by handguns.
BWAHAHAHAHA! Now that is funny.
If it saves just one life it's worth it.
Closing San Francisco entirely would likely make a big dent in the AIDS "crisis", too.
I like it! Checkmate!
Unlike a gun, you can’t even use the bridge to defend yourself against a criminal.
WTF?
Eliminate the sale of alcohol and tobacco. They kill far more people than guns do. In fact, guns don't kill anyone. It's the bullets that do the killing
Don't forget high buildings. No one has ever committed suicide, that I know of, jumping out of a basement.
It is great to turn liberals specious arguments against them.
Archie: "Would it make you feel better, little girl, if they was pushed out of windows?"
Eliminate the sale of alcohol and tobacco. They kill far more people than guns do. In fact, guns don't kill anyone, it's the bullets that do the killing.
Charcoal grills
There's a much bigger killer to be tackled my friends and it's water! Statistics show that nearly 100% of people who drink water die within 100 years. This can't be coincidence. Something must be done to stop water before it kills again! /sarcasm set to 11
RIOT!
Shucks, and here I was hoping to see Bill Clinton jump off
that bridge to the 20th century he was always talking about.
A close second in this carnage is Mothers Milk. Statistical studies show that 100% of those ingesting this toxin will die. Further studies are now underway to determine why this is so but for now it is recommended to switch to water. No wait....
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