Two days ago, the New York Times told the world [1] that “Harris Wolobah, 14, of Worcester, Mass., died at a hospital on Friday shortly after eating the chip, his mother said”- the chip, Paqui’s “one chip challenge” [2] comes one to a box for $10 and dares you to eat it- without any water, milk, ice cream- and see how long you last. It’s a ridiculously spicy chip made by Amplify Snack brands, a division of Hershey foods since 2017.
The chip “was made with the Carolina Reaper [3], which has been measured at more than two million Scoville heat units [4], the scale used to measure how hot peppers are, and the Naga Viper, which has been measured at just under 1.4 million Scoville units [5]. Jalapeño peppers are typically rated at between 2,000 and 8,000 units [6].”
It was voluntarily recalled the next day. The autopsy won’t be complete for 12 weeks, but this one death (and the coming lawsuit) scared Hershey’s out of the nuclear hot spicy chip business.
Yet, hundreds of American’s die daily by getting shot. Guns make our country one of the most dangerous places on the planet [7], but gun manufacturers have nothing to worry about, because, well, guns don’t kill people, people kill people and Congress has been bought by the NRA.
Imagine if with every shooting, lawyers could sue gun manufacturers for everything they have, because they sold a product that was unsafe?
Or we required gun owners to carry million dollar insurance policies to make sure that no one gets shot with their guns?
Bet something would change.
But, no, that’s not the American way, even though we did manage to ban “Lawn Darts” or “Jarts” after just a few deaths of children [8].
The Paqui chip may be banned even faster.
Because, now we know, guns don’t kill people, hot chips do.
Wonder if the kid had the experimental vaccine shot ? Aka the clot shot ? Where is the numbers of people saved by guns ? Sad situation but I imagine there is MORE to the story….. not many guns in UK so they had a huge spike in stabbings with knives. So much so they outlawed knives…. Now people are getting killed by hammers…. Seems if people want to harm others they can by any means necessary….. outlaw, guns and only outlaws will have guns. Putting law biding citizens at more risk.
Explain to me the theory you have that “the NRA owns Congress works. The NRA has right around 5 million members. The side of the NRA that contributes to candidates is the NRA/ILA. It’s funded by donations from the membership, and I can assure you, not every member contributes to the fund. As a matter of fact, I would wager that no more than 20% of members send in donations. Most never give a dime! Most annual members I know think that their membership fee funds everything.
The clout that the NRA has is far more based on their political endorsements. And, those endorsements are based on the politicians voting record on 2nd Amendment issues. First time candidates, they base any endorsement on how the person answers questions on the questionnaire they’re sent. I don’t recall if you even bothered to return it when you ran against Turner.
We have likely damned near thousands of groups that endorse based on causes they hold dear. The NRA on a single cause, supporting and defending the right of law abiding citizens 2nd Amendment rights.
What? Gun manufacturers don’t support the NRA? Are you nuts?
Gun control laws might address some of the issues, but more and more I’m seeing that as a “band-aid” solution. We really need to grow the courage to face the larger societal issues that create the “need” for projectile-firing weapons that kill or maim in the first place. And I mean BIG picture. Case in point: simply calling the perpetrators of the Columbine Massacre “evil monsters” and walking away hasn’t fixed anything. What made them “evil?” Can that be remedied in any practical sense? Maybe a mass exorcism on the first day of school? Could we honestly address, say, bullying in schools? Why is the educational environment conducive to bullying anyway? Is it because schools are social institutions instead of educational ones? Can we do anything about parents who don’t teach their children to cooperate in a civil society? Eugenics was supposed to stop “idiots” from breeding, after all.
Gun control laws certainly won’t fly with the American public unless there are assurances against perceived “slippery slope” concerns. For instance: you stated, “Imagine if with every shooting, lawyers could sue gun manufacturers for everything they have, because they sold a product that was unsafe?” How might this sound to the common person concerned with his/her own security? I shoot an attacker in self defense –> attacker’s family successfully sues gun manufacturer –> gun manufacturer goes out of business –> People can’t buy guns to defend themselves. What could/would you propose to alleviate this concern? Would you simply dismiss it, a tactic that never seems to work?
@Patrick Craig- thank you for joining the conversation. Yes, there are a lot of things that we could do to help stop gun violence- including national health care and de stigmatizing mental health care treatments.
One things for sure, we don’t need to make another gun in this country- there are more than enough to go around. What we need is to follow through with what the founding fathers said in the 2nd Amendment- you need to be part of a well regulated militia to have a gun.
See my position on gun control here:http://www.electesrati.com/guncontrol