Mainers tend to be a pretty responsible group of people. Maine, consistently, has one of the lowest crime rates in the country and is often said to be one of the safest places to raise a family. Maine also has a rather high rate of households with at least one firearm. So it was with a view cast from this backdrop that I looked to make sense of what prompted the President to announce a set of executive orders last week and if the problem in Maine is as bad as it sounds nationally.

When the President made his announcement last week he said he was angry. He was saddened that Congress had not acted before to ebb the tidal wave of deaths associated with guns in the United States. He had to act. He had to make a difference. This was the most pressing issue of our time.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and their Uniform Crime Reports for the year 2010, there were 8,775 murders in the United States by firearms. This is not a slight number in the least. Maine accounted for 11 of those murders by guns. In a state with more than a million people in it, the ratio of firearms related deaths to population seems very low.

If the President is right that the scourge of firearms deaths and firearms shootings are the great issue of our time, then clearly he must act. It is clear that there is no other cause of death which is greater. Because the President said this to be the case, it must be true. Or is it?

In the same year that I mentioned above, 2010, the United States saw the total number of deaths in traffic accidents climb to more than 32,000. Maine accounted for 161 traffic deaths in that same year. Coincidentally, the death rate in a traffic accident due to alcohol being a contributing factor was more than 20 percent. A mere 6,400 people died as a result. You have a one in five chance of dying in a car if the accident you are involved in has alcohol as a contributing factor.

If firearms related deaths are causing new Executive Orders to be signed and the rights of some Americans to be walked upon, shouldn’t we also take a closer look at the saving of lives on our nation’s roads? I would think that far many more Americans come into contact daily with a vehicle or two on the roadway than they come into contact with a firearm. Why is the President not acting on this?

Back to Maine for a moment. If you are driving a car, or riding in a car, or even walking down a road where a car is present, you are 14 times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than to die at the muzzle of a firearm. Perhaps we need to restrict the sale of automobiles in Uncle Henry’s? Requiring that each private seller of an automobile become a Federally licensed dealer is the most common sense vehicle law that we can hope to pass. Clearly we are at risk from these multi-ton death darts on Maine’s roads.

In all seriousness, while the issue of firearms violence is sensationalized and makes for great fodder in the minute-by-minute news cycle, the overreaching executive orders that the President proposed would have had little impact on crimes committed nationally and those committed in Maine. If the President wants to marshal his efforts to save lives in a most effective way look at what can be done to curb traffic deaths and gun deaths. He should look to see what can be done about the hundreds of thousands of hospital related deaths as reported in the Journal for Patient Safety. Keeping Americans safe does not have a one issue solution.

It is unlikely that any of the new executive orders will have a real impact on the issue of firearm deaths in America or in Maine. It is unlikely for the sole reason that there are many more reasons for someone’s death than a firearm. The President, if he wanted to really lead, should focus on the causes of death of all Americans and would promote a more balanced approach. Until then he will add layers to the thousands of laws that already make it difficult for your average Mainer to assert their right to, “… keep and bear arms …”

That’s my two cents…

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Jonathan Crimmins lives in Brunswick