Doakes Sunday: Goals

Joe Doakes from Como Park emails:

In a comment to “A Bad Idea Whose Time Will Never Come,” Troy linked to a State of Minnesota website about job safety.  Their goal is to reduce the number of worker’s comp accidents from 4.3 down to 2.5.

 

Does that mean state government WANTS 2.5 employees injured or killed on the job?  Of course not.  Every injury or death is a tragedy to the people involved.  But in a large and diverse workforce engaged in hazardous duties, some injuries and deaths are inevitable and unavoidable.  The state isn’t attempting to eliminate all injuries and deaths, they’ve set a realistic and obtainable goal to work toward.  2.5 isn’t the optimum level, but it’s an acceptable level.  Having decided that, they can adopt practices to reach that goal.

Gun Control advocates often justify their demands saying “if it saves even one life” but zero deaths is just as much an unrealistic and unobtainable goal as zero worker’s comp injuries.  There are 320,000,000 people in the United States, 2,500,000 of whom die every year.  Every injury or death involving a firearm is a tragedy to the people involved.  But society must set a realistic and obtainable goal to work toward.

How many people should die each year in firearms related incidents – suicide, death by cop, gang warfare, mass shootings?  What’s the “acceptable level?”  Until we decide that, we can’t adopt practices to reach the goal.

Joe Doakes

For purposes of setting actual, workable policy?  Joe is right.

For purposes of shoving chanting points at the ignorant?  Realism is irrelevant.