Cats and Guns

I wonder, what is the correalation between a cat owner, especially one who allows the cats to roam, and gun ownership?

Cats, by recent studies at 21 different locations, kill 14.7 billion small animals including 2.4 billion birds annually in the United States. This is the single largest cause of small animal mortality. A cat is a killing machine. That is way more than the number of people killed by guns in the US every year which is only in the tens of thousands. There are several comparisons of interest here. And remember, the debate is over personal "freedom" and not public safety.

The cats kill domestic pets, wild birds and small mammals. They don't seem to give a fig for other cats which would be a blessing if they did kill each other. Cats are a vermin laden ceature whose feces carries a worm that will kill small children. That worm burrows its way into the brain and causes a painful death. If you have a cat and an infant, you are a reckless person. At least as reckless as a person who also owns a gun and a child. Such a person, I am sure, would rather give up the child than either the gun or the cat.

Perhaps the cat/gun owner or either one separately is a believer, and I use that word in its most perjorative sense, that the cat/gun will protect them from home invasion. Let's look at the results of the numbers killed. They defy such speculation. Cats' victims are not nasty vermin like Norway rats which inhabit many cat owners' homes. They are innocent small creatures. Gun owners' victims are overwhelmingly people they know or have a connection to. Home invaders are not even on the radar! Even if these people had a "home invasion" in reality it would be a person whom they have bedded or otherwise  tricked. In both cases, a selfish person is defending against an imaginary threat at the expense of a peaceful and fruitful world. 

When I was on the leash law exploratory committee in the 1970's I insisted the proposed law that was a bill of attainder and was illegal. A bill of attainder is a bill that names a specific person or group. So, my argument was that unless all domestic pets are regulated no pet can so be. You can imagine the screeching mews coming from the cat owners. Even at this late date, the Selectmen remain extremely species prejudiced despite the overwhelming evidence of cat nuisance.

This comparative study will help explain the gun issue. They are morally the same. Personal freedom to wage war on man and nature trumps public health and safety every time.