First of all the quote there is indirectly about C with UNIX's adoption starting out of Bell Labs, C++ would only become known to the world in 1989, with the release of CFront 2.0.
Second, while you certainly can code C in C++, just like one can code JavaScript in TypeScript, the tools are there on the type system for anyone that cares, tools that WG 14 has proven not to care in 50 years of history.
Third, all C compilers worth using in professional scenarios are nowadays written in C++.
As last point, while C++ has the heads up over C in type system improvements, it is by no means the final answer in systems programming, ideally both programming languages should be replaced by better, safer ones, which there are a few already to chose from.
Unfortunely as long as LLVM and GCC are around, industry standards based on C and C++, there is little hope that those improved languages fully take over.
Thus when it comes to C vs C++, in such world where else gets to replace them in all scenarios, C++ is the only answer to that duality of choice, unless one wants to keep re-inventing solutions (badly) for answers C++ is providing since 1989.
Well, look; I replied initially because you're misrepresenting "I want fewer footguns" with "I don't care".
The only question was whether you're doing it on purpose or whether you really do think that there are zero programmers who want fewer footguns.
As far as the C vs C++ thing goes, if your measure is "How many OPTIONAL features does a language give me WRT safety", then sure, C++ is optionally safer than C.
If the measure is "How many extra footguns does the language provide", then no, C++ cannot, by any objective measure, be safer than C.
Since you're constantly re-framing the discussion towards "More features" and away from "fewer footguns", I think it is safe to say that "extra footguns", for you anyway, doesn't mean "less safe".
The way you constantly re-frame, though, reflects quite poorly on you - it's pretty obvious from the very first thread I am counting the footguns as the measure of how unsafe a language is. That's not an irrational measure, and yet you are willing to strawman the argument to make it seem irrational.
First of all the quote there is indirectly about C with UNIX's adoption starting out of Bell Labs, C++ would only become known to the world in 1989, with the release of CFront 2.0.
Second, while you certainly can code C in C++, just like one can code JavaScript in TypeScript, the tools are there on the type system for anyone that cares, tools that WG 14 has proven not to care in 50 years of history.
Third, all C compilers worth using in professional scenarios are nowadays written in C++.
As last point, while C++ has the heads up over C in type system improvements, it is by no means the final answer in systems programming, ideally both programming languages should be replaced by better, safer ones, which there are a few already to chose from.
Unfortunely as long as LLVM and GCC are around, industry standards based on C and C++, there is little hope that those improved languages fully take over.
Thus when it comes to C vs C++, in such world where else gets to replace them in all scenarios, C++ is the only answer to that duality of choice, unless one wants to keep re-inventing solutions (badly) for answers C++ is providing since 1989.