As Mother Jones notes, data suggests that by 2015 guns will kill more Americans than traffic accidents. And: "A number of states have already hit this grisly milestone."

Down in Olympia, Democratic legislators are currently wavering on whether to vote for universal background checks this session, and Governor Jay Inslee is offering to put them on the phone with Gabby Giffords, so perhaps it's worth adding this to the discussion:

Washington is one those states to have already hit the "grisly milestone" at which gun fatalities begin outpacing car fatalities. We did so in 2010. (Another distinction for our state: we're one of only four in America in which gun suicides alone number higher than traffic deaths.)