For discussion purposes only, from http://www.pioneerplanet.com/seven-days/3/news/docs/034018.htm
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Forum focuses on wider consequences of gun violence
Ruben Rosario
The Rev. Rufus Campbell hosted a meeting at his church in St. Paul Thursday night and invited local politicians and state health officials to attend.
Campbell, a slender man with gray-specked hair and a gentle voice, believes in the separation of church and state. But not when it comes to gun violence. He'd invite the devil himself -- and do a little preaching once he had him -- if it helped reduce the number of people killed or injured through gun-related suicides and unintentional shootings.
``Most of our government officials define the violence in terms of criminal wrongdoing,'' Campbell said before the public meeting at Camphor United Methodist Church. The meeting -- organized by ISAIAH, a Twin Cities coalition of secular and interfaith groups; the Million Mom March; Jewish Community Action; and Citizens for a Safer Minnesota -- attracted more than 100 people.
``What we are saying is that the greater danger is not from criminal activities. It's accidental shootings and suicides as a result of handguns,'' he said. ``We're trying to shift the tenor of the debate from criminal activity to public safety, asking state officials to figure out some steps we can take on a statewide level.''
In 1993, a record 39,595 people nationwide died as result of firearms, nearly 20,000 in self-inflicted incidents and 1,543 from accidental shootings. There were nearly 132,000 people who were shot and injured that year. The annual gun death rate declined to 30,070 in 1998, but suicides and unintentional shootings perennially account for the majority of firearm-related incidents.
In Minnesota, gun-related suicides outnumber homicides 3-to-1, with firearms used in 81 percent of self-inflicted fatalities.
Gun violence, once portrayed as an inner-city problem fueled by the illicit drug trade, finally reached the national stage of consciousness through the spate of high-profile school massacres in middle-class and rural communities in recent years.
Regardless of where we live or what we think about guns, their link to violence reduces the quality of life for all of us. That is the conclusion of a landmark study that places gun-related violence costs at $100 billion a year, or roughly $1 million per gunshot injury. The researchers -- economists Phillip Cook and Jens Ludwig -- added security, quality of life and policy intervention expenses to direct medical costs to come up with the cost estimate.
Whether waiting in line to pass security at airports or buying transparent book bags to meet school safety regulations, we pay in myriad ways, the researchers point out in ``Gun Violence: The Real Costs'' (Oxford University Press, 2000). The book weighs the benefits of policies and programs that aim to reduce gun violence against the money it takes to implement them.
The researchers come down on the side of enhanced prison sentences for illegal gun users and police crackdowns in high-crime areas, although they acknowledge the intangible costs of potential infringements of constitutional rights. They also give high marks to the public health community's push to regulate guns as consumer products, where better design and safety measures may reduce the death toll.
Speaker after speaker, from state health officials to average citizens, talked of the need for better laws and education about accidental shootings and suicides. But none drove home the point better than Cheryle Matis.
Matis has spoken many times about what happened to her 14-year-old son, Brandon Block, six years ago when a 15-year-old classmate and neighbor accidentally shot and killed him with his father's loaded handgun in Maple Grove. The shooter spent 18 months in detention.
Matis choked up Thursday before relating the tale. You wonder how anyone could keep her composure with such a loss. But she had new information to share.
``I just got word two weeks ago that the boy's father committed suicide with a gun,'' she said. ``He isolated himself after the accident, in his home, from his family and the neighbors. There was a divorce.''
An unintentional shooting led to a suicide. There was nothing more to be said to get the point across.
Ruben Rosario can be reached at rrosario@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5454.[/quote]
Why did I call this a hopeful sign? Simply this: this article makes it clear that at least some elements of the MMM'ers and their ilk have realized that grabbing guns and reducing criminal violence don't go together after all.
Now, if we could only convince them that responsible grownups should be trusted and treated like grownups rather than restrained by laws which treat them like naughty children.
pax
"The trouble with America is that there are far too many wide-open spaces surrounded by teeth." -- Charles Luckman
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>
Forum focuses on wider consequences of gun violence
Ruben Rosario
The Rev. Rufus Campbell hosted a meeting at his church in St. Paul Thursday night and invited local politicians and state health officials to attend.
Campbell, a slender man with gray-specked hair and a gentle voice, believes in the separation of church and state. But not when it comes to gun violence. He'd invite the devil himself -- and do a little preaching once he had him -- if it helped reduce the number of people killed or injured through gun-related suicides and unintentional shootings.
``Most of our government officials define the violence in terms of criminal wrongdoing,'' Campbell said before the public meeting at Camphor United Methodist Church. The meeting -- organized by ISAIAH, a Twin Cities coalition of secular and interfaith groups; the Million Mom March; Jewish Community Action; and Citizens for a Safer Minnesota -- attracted more than 100 people.
``What we are saying is that the greater danger is not from criminal activities. It's accidental shootings and suicides as a result of handguns,'' he said. ``We're trying to shift the tenor of the debate from criminal activity to public safety, asking state officials to figure out some steps we can take on a statewide level.''
In 1993, a record 39,595 people nationwide died as result of firearms, nearly 20,000 in self-inflicted incidents and 1,543 from accidental shootings. There were nearly 132,000 people who were shot and injured that year. The annual gun death rate declined to 30,070 in 1998, but suicides and unintentional shootings perennially account for the majority of firearm-related incidents.
In Minnesota, gun-related suicides outnumber homicides 3-to-1, with firearms used in 81 percent of self-inflicted fatalities.
Gun violence, once portrayed as an inner-city problem fueled by the illicit drug trade, finally reached the national stage of consciousness through the spate of high-profile school massacres in middle-class and rural communities in recent years.
Regardless of where we live or what we think about guns, their link to violence reduces the quality of life for all of us. That is the conclusion of a landmark study that places gun-related violence costs at $100 billion a year, or roughly $1 million per gunshot injury. The researchers -- economists Phillip Cook and Jens Ludwig -- added security, quality of life and policy intervention expenses to direct medical costs to come up with the cost estimate.
Whether waiting in line to pass security at airports or buying transparent book bags to meet school safety regulations, we pay in myriad ways, the researchers point out in ``Gun Violence: The Real Costs'' (Oxford University Press, 2000). The book weighs the benefits of policies and programs that aim to reduce gun violence against the money it takes to implement them.
The researchers come down on the side of enhanced prison sentences for illegal gun users and police crackdowns in high-crime areas, although they acknowledge the intangible costs of potential infringements of constitutional rights. They also give high marks to the public health community's push to regulate guns as consumer products, where better design and safety measures may reduce the death toll.
Speaker after speaker, from state health officials to average citizens, talked of the need for better laws and education about accidental shootings and suicides. But none drove home the point better than Cheryle Matis.
Matis has spoken many times about what happened to her 14-year-old son, Brandon Block, six years ago when a 15-year-old classmate and neighbor accidentally shot and killed him with his father's loaded handgun in Maple Grove. The shooter spent 18 months in detention.
Matis choked up Thursday before relating the tale. You wonder how anyone could keep her composure with such a loss. But she had new information to share.
``I just got word two weeks ago that the boy's father committed suicide with a gun,'' she said. ``He isolated himself after the accident, in his home, from his family and the neighbors. There was a divorce.''
An unintentional shooting led to a suicide. There was nothing more to be said to get the point across.
Ruben Rosario can be reached at rrosario@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5454.[/quote]
Why did I call this a hopeful sign? Simply this: this article makes it clear that at least some elements of the MMM'ers and their ilk have realized that grabbing guns and reducing criminal violence don't go together after all.
Now, if we could only convince them that responsible grownups should be trusted and treated like grownups rather than restrained by laws which treat them like naughty children.
pax
"The trouble with America is that there are far too many wide-open spaces surrounded by teeth." -- Charles Luckman