There were more journalists than race car drivers killed in the United States in the first half of 2018

For the first time that I can recall, it is statistically more dangerous to be a journalist than a race car driver in the United States.

In the first six months of 2018, three race car drivers were killed in on-track events in the United States; in all three instances, the fatality occurred as a result of injuries sustained in a crash:

• Dirt modified racer Bill Egleston, who was killed in an International Motorsports Contest Association (IMCA) race at Perris Auto Speedway in California on January 16
• Amateur drag racer Ken Rambo, who was killed in a Wednesday Night Drags meet at Sonoma Raceway in California on March 28
• Sprint car racer Jason Johnson, who was killed in a World of Outlaws Sprint Car race at Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin on June 23 (date of death: June 24)

According to the Motorsport Memorial website, no race car drivers were killed outside of the United States in the first six months of 2018, so the three race car drivers who were killed in the United States were the only race car drivers killed worldwide in the first half of 2018. I am not counting any instances where operators of motorcycles, snowmobiles, boats, and other non-automobile motorized vehicles were killed in racing crashes in the first six months of 2018.

In the first six months of 2018, four journalists were killed in a single work-related incident in the United States. On June 28 of this year, four journalists, Gerald Fischman, John McNamara, Rob Hiaasen, and Wendi Winters, were murdered in the Capital Gazette massacre in Annapolis, Maryland. The perpetrator of the Capital Gazette massacre had a long-standing feud with the Capital Gazette, an organization that publishes two newspapers in Maryland. The figure of four American journalists killed does not count a sales assistant, Rebecca Smith, who was also murdered in the Capital Gazette massacre, and the figure does not count music video blogger Zachary Stoner, who was murdered in Chicago, Illinois on May 30, 2008, as the motive behind Stoner's murder is, as of this writing, still unknown.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a total of 33 journalists, counting only the deaths of journalists whose deaths were work-related, were killed worldwide in the first six months of 2018.

There are reasons why journalism is now a more dangerous profession than driving a race car:

• Race car drivers typically wear and use a large amount of safety equipment, such as crash helmets, fire-resistant uniforms, seat belts, and head-and-neck restraints, and, unless a production car is used as a race car, a typical race car is built to provide a considerable level of protection to the driver. Journalists, on the other hand, don't use or have a need for safety equipment unless, for example, they're reporting from an area where war or other civil unrest is occurring.
• The victims of the Capital Gazette massacre in Maryland were killed as a result of gun violence. Gun violence is extremely rare at automobile racing events, as a typical auto racing facility will prohibit anyone who isn't an authorized person (such as a law enforcement officer) from possessing a firearm on the grounds of the venue for safety and security reasons.

I oppose completely banning law-abiding U.S. citizens from owning and possessing firearms. However, there must be common-sense gun safety laws designed to reduce gun violence, and, by extension, reduce the likelihood of journalists being killed on the job, while, at the same time, protecting the right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms for lawful purposes, enacted in the United States