First off, it's no secret that an eventual ban on all firearms is the end goal. Nobody is being coy in trying to hide that. So we are essentially comparing a ban to a ban. Seems pretty logical to me.
Now, being that I work in the 4th busiest high acuity intensive care unit in the entire country, I've seen more death than either you or your statistics can possibly imagine. I see what contributes to the deaths of people on a daily basis. Go read that in a study somewhere if it makes you feel educated on the subject.
I also can't help but think that the proposed goal (though I think the gun control crowd really doesn't give an actual shit about) is to decrease the loss of life. If that's truly your goal as you guys claim it is, then alcohol is well within the realm of discussion.
What purpose does alcohol serve? What possible benefit is there to society from it? I just had a good friend die of alcoholic cirrhosis. What good did it do him? I see the amount of trauma patients come thru the door that have alcohol in their systems. I'd wager its 2 out of every 3 that roll in our unit. It causes a severe increase in financial burden on our healthcare system, not to mention the loss of life it contributes to. Far more than firearms. So why can't we discuss it? Making a person wait until they are 21 doesn't seem to do a damn thing. You can have all the regulation, decline of alcoholism, community changes, etc. that you want; it still kills a fuck ton of people as well as drives up our cost of healthcare.
Are you at a point in regulation with alcohol that the amount of deaths and injuries we incur because of it are acceptable to you? I think it's a valid question.
That said, I rarely drink and couldn't care less if I never did again. Still, I wouldn't be for prohibition of alcohol because, again, I feel it falls back to personal responsibility. Same goes for firearms. I just don't get why the gun control crowd wouldn't be for further regulation of alcohol as well if their intentions truly are to save lives.
*I'm just picking on alcohol because I see so much of the damage it causes. I could pick any number of things that contribute to human loss of life and go after it just the same.*