Bruce in West Oz
New member
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>COLUMN -- "IN NEW YORK"
Christine Jackman
Western Australia's the Sunday Times
Sunday 26 March 2000
VITAL LESSON
Twelve children are killed by guns in America every day. Not every year or month, but every day. In New York, you're guaranteed to see enough that is hilarious, inspirational or bizarre every day to make writing a column about life in the US a joy.
But sometimes, it's just not possible when you realise that by the time you have finished writing your latest dispatch from the land of the free, another 12 children will have died. About half an average first-grade class.
Not when you calculate that by the time your column is read in Australia, between 48 and 60 people, aged 19 years and under, will have been killed by someone exercising their right to bear arms.
Nor when you've just discovered that the National Rifle Association is using inflated figures from our very own country in it's [sic] latest vicious campaign against tighter gun control in the US.
According to a 30-minute [??] infomercial currently on late-night TV, Australians have had a crime wave since the Howard Government's gun law reform in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.
The cost of liberty (in Australia) can be measured in the loss of life, the ad says, before urging Americans to join the NRA. (In return they receive a free gift -- a replica silver bullet engraved with NRA president Charlton Heston's signature.)
Since the gun ban, armed robberies are up 69 per cent, assaults with guns up 28 per cent, gun murders up 19 per cent, home invasions up 21 per cent, the ad says.
The figures the NRA cites -- on TV and its website -- are attributed to Australia's Sporting Shooters Association. The problem is, the figures are wrong.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, firearm homicides have fallen since gun laws were tightened.
Armed robberies have increased -- by 20 per cent from 1997 to 1998, not 69 per cent. Unlawful entry with intent (67 per cent of which could be classified as home invasions) increased by 3.3 per cent, not 21 per cent.
The AIC says it's too early to tell whether Australia's gun law reform is responsible for any of these changes.
So why is the Sporting Shooters Association supporting a campaign which suggests Australia is in such an egregious state compared to the US -- where the gun murder rate is 200 times our own? And don't forget those 12 children who die every day.
When Buell Elementary School authorities called Veronica McQueen last month to say her daughter Kayla had been in an accideent, McQueen thought they meant a cut knee from a playground slip.
She didn't know that just minutes before, Kayla's teacher Alicia Judd had dialled 911 after the little girl was shot at close range by a first grade classmate. Here is the transcript of that call.
Judd: "I have a student at Buell school that (is) dying. I need an ambulance immediately."
911: "Where's the child that has been shot?"
Judd: "Right here on the floor in my class. Oh, God, please, she's getting white. The little girl is getting white."
911: "Is she breathing?"
Judd: "No, she's not."
911: "Do you know how to do CPR?"
Judd: "Yes, but I don't remember."
911: "Where is the child that shot her, ma'am?"
Judd: "He's in the office."
911: "He's in the office?"
Judd: "Yes. I can't feel her pulse."
911: OK, just let me tell you how to do CPR, OK? Where was she shot?"
Judd: "I can't tell. I'm scared to turn her body. Oh, God, please Lord, please Lord."
911: "Ma'am, where is the blood coming from?"
Judd: "I can't tell. She's lying on her stomach."
911: "Has she been shot in the head?"
Judd: "No, it doesn't look like it. It looks like she's shot from the front. I can't feel her pulse, but she's moving ... she's convulsing, minor convulsions. She's trying to get air."
911: "What room are you in?"
Judd: "I'm in Room 6, but I can't feel a pulse."
Think of little Kayla.
Think of your own child. Think of your nieces and nephews, goddaughters and sons, your grandchildren.
Think of them trying to breathe as the colour spills from their faces into a pool of red on the classroom floor, when they should be practising their ABCs.
Then ask the Sporting Shooters Association to keep it's [sic] nose and statistics out of the shameful, pointless, ongoing tragedy that is America's right to bear arms.
Web site [sic]: cjcolumn@aol.com[/quote]
There you go -- at least she was kind enough to provide us with her email address.
In a similar vein, here is the response from the SSAA to a Canberra newspaper regarding the NRA infomercial. Note the figures quoted:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Canberra Times editorial response (25/3/00)
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 18:21:45 +0800
From: Paul Peake - SSAA Research
___________________________________________
Dear Editor
Regrettably, denial has become a common currency among Australian politicians -- especially where gun control is concerned. The recent controversy surrounding the National Rifle Association of America's TV
ads provides a good illustration.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology's published 'Facts and Figures' for 1999, armed robberies have indeed increased by 69% since 1995. Similarly, Australian Bureau of Statistics 'Recorded Crime' data shows that Unlawful Entry with Intent has also risen since the government's gun 'buy-back' scheme - climbing from 402,079 victims to 435,670 between 1996 and 1998. The number of assault victims has likewise increased from 114,156 to 132,967 over the same period.
The Attorney-General Mr Williams may clutch at all the statistical straws he likes, but to claim that Australia is somehow a 'safer place' as a result of his government's efforts is complete nonsense.
One suspects that what has really offended Mr Williams is the NRA's candor in pointing out that the emperor has no clothes.
Sincerely
Paul Peake
Research Section
Sporting Shooters Association of Australia Inc.[/quote]
B
Christine Jackman
Western Australia's the Sunday Times
Sunday 26 March 2000
VITAL LESSON
Twelve children are killed by guns in America every day. Not every year or month, but every day. In New York, you're guaranteed to see enough that is hilarious, inspirational or bizarre every day to make writing a column about life in the US a joy.
But sometimes, it's just not possible when you realise that by the time you have finished writing your latest dispatch from the land of the free, another 12 children will have died. About half an average first-grade class.
Not when you calculate that by the time your column is read in Australia, between 48 and 60 people, aged 19 years and under, will have been killed by someone exercising their right to bear arms.
Nor when you've just discovered that the National Rifle Association is using inflated figures from our very own country in it's [sic] latest vicious campaign against tighter gun control in the US.
According to a 30-minute [??] infomercial currently on late-night TV, Australians have had a crime wave since the Howard Government's gun law reform in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.
The cost of liberty (in Australia) can be measured in the loss of life, the ad says, before urging Americans to join the NRA. (In return they receive a free gift -- a replica silver bullet engraved with NRA president Charlton Heston's signature.)
Since the gun ban, armed robberies are up 69 per cent, assaults with guns up 28 per cent, gun murders up 19 per cent, home invasions up 21 per cent, the ad says.
The figures the NRA cites -- on TV and its website -- are attributed to Australia's Sporting Shooters Association. The problem is, the figures are wrong.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, firearm homicides have fallen since gun laws were tightened.
Armed robberies have increased -- by 20 per cent from 1997 to 1998, not 69 per cent. Unlawful entry with intent (67 per cent of which could be classified as home invasions) increased by 3.3 per cent, not 21 per cent.
The AIC says it's too early to tell whether Australia's gun law reform is responsible for any of these changes.
So why is the Sporting Shooters Association supporting a campaign which suggests Australia is in such an egregious state compared to the US -- where the gun murder rate is 200 times our own? And don't forget those 12 children who die every day.
When Buell Elementary School authorities called Veronica McQueen last month to say her daughter Kayla had been in an accideent, McQueen thought they meant a cut knee from a playground slip.
She didn't know that just minutes before, Kayla's teacher Alicia Judd had dialled 911 after the little girl was shot at close range by a first grade classmate. Here is the transcript of that call.
Judd: "I have a student at Buell school that (is) dying. I need an ambulance immediately."
911: "Where's the child that has been shot?"
Judd: "Right here on the floor in my class. Oh, God, please, she's getting white. The little girl is getting white."
911: "Is she breathing?"
Judd: "No, she's not."
911: "Do you know how to do CPR?"
Judd: "Yes, but I don't remember."
911: "Where is the child that shot her, ma'am?"
Judd: "He's in the office."
911: "He's in the office?"
Judd: "Yes. I can't feel her pulse."
911: OK, just let me tell you how to do CPR, OK? Where was she shot?"
Judd: "I can't tell. I'm scared to turn her body. Oh, God, please Lord, please Lord."
911: "Ma'am, where is the blood coming from?"
Judd: "I can't tell. She's lying on her stomach."
911: "Has she been shot in the head?"
Judd: "No, it doesn't look like it. It looks like she's shot from the front. I can't feel her pulse, but she's moving ... she's convulsing, minor convulsions. She's trying to get air."
911: "What room are you in?"
Judd: "I'm in Room 6, but I can't feel a pulse."
Think of little Kayla.
Think of your own child. Think of your nieces and nephews, goddaughters and sons, your grandchildren.
Think of them trying to breathe as the colour spills from their faces into a pool of red on the classroom floor, when they should be practising their ABCs.
Then ask the Sporting Shooters Association to keep it's [sic] nose and statistics out of the shameful, pointless, ongoing tragedy that is America's right to bear arms.
Web site [sic]: cjcolumn@aol.com[/quote]
There you go -- at least she was kind enough to provide us with her email address.
In a similar vein, here is the response from the SSAA to a Canberra newspaper regarding the NRA infomercial. Note the figures quoted:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Canberra Times editorial response (25/3/00)
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2000 18:21:45 +0800
From: Paul Peake - SSAA Research
___________________________________________
Dear Editor
Regrettably, denial has become a common currency among Australian politicians -- especially where gun control is concerned. The recent controversy surrounding the National Rifle Association of America's TV
ads provides a good illustration.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology's published 'Facts and Figures' for 1999, armed robberies have indeed increased by 69% since 1995. Similarly, Australian Bureau of Statistics 'Recorded Crime' data shows that Unlawful Entry with Intent has also risen since the government's gun 'buy-back' scheme - climbing from 402,079 victims to 435,670 between 1996 and 1998. The number of assault victims has likewise increased from 114,156 to 132,967 over the same period.
The Attorney-General Mr Williams may clutch at all the statistical straws he likes, but to claim that Australia is somehow a 'safer place' as a result of his government's efforts is complete nonsense.
One suspects that what has really offended Mr Williams is the NRA's candor in pointing out that the emperor has no clothes.
Sincerely
Paul Peake
Research Section
Sporting Shooters Association of Australia Inc.[/quote]
B