In the 1960s, when the rate of automobile fatalities reached 50,000 per year, auto manufacturers finally agreed, at the behest of the National Transportation Safety Board, to look at possible design changes that might make cars safer. Until then, manufacturers insisted that drivers cause accidents, not cars.

Sound familiar?

But research showed that changes could improve auto safety and now, thanks to that research, we have safer cars and fewer deaths per mile every year.

Soon gun accidents will exceed motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S.

Unfortunately, the NRA, to which I belong, has steadfastly stood in opposition to any comparable tracking and investigation into firearms accidents. That must change.

Congressman James Dickey, who introduced the 1996 legislation that blocked the research, has changed his mind and supports this effort.

We did not ban cars to decrease motor vehicle deaths, and there is no need to ban guns. But improvements in regulation and design may be the best paths to decreasing firearms deaths.

We only need to have the honesty and courage to do the research and listen to what the data shows.

Steve Bien, MD, Jay