Skis and arms control

Depending on the year, there are up to 30,000 people killed and 70,000 injured by firearms in the United States. In turn, the NRA claims that it's people, not guns that killed or maim.

Now contrast this with skiing and snowboarding in which about 50 people die each year, but of course, there are plenty more of other ski-related injuries.

For instance, serious knee injury, usually involving a rupture of the ACL, accounts for some 20 percent of them, probably totaling more than 25,000 per winter in the U.S. alone. A pretty small number in relation to a total 50 to 60 million days of skiing each season.

The dangerous connotation of skiing is often identified as the main impediment to its growth. Since skiing is fun, everyone accepts a risk that is worth taking and therefore no one is up in arms (excuse the pun) to “punish” that sport, and since the pain and suffering related to skiing/snowboarding is self inflicted, society accepts it willingly.

Yet if we wanted to eradicate this source of accident, we'd simply need to ban skiing and snowboarding, and then – with the collected equipment – we could erect a colorful fence south or our border with it long enough to satisfy Trump.

Turn now the discussion towards firearms and apply the same logic to it. If we don't like tens of thousands of deaths every year in the U.S.A. and also agree that it is not a “fun” activity, we should recall all the lethal weapons not used for hunting and melt them on the spot.

So much for the Second Amendment and arming teachers inside the classroom!