Nice to see an article in a "mainstream" publication that supports the thesis that the anti push is basically all propaganda. A lie repeated often enough becomes the truth, etc. Let's continue to oppose this trend. One "Good job!" for the Detroit Free Press.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Gun-violence myth driving campaigns
Whites in suburbs fear their kids are targets; statistics say otherwise
July 3, 2000
BY JACKIE KOSZCZUK
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF
CHICAGO -- Consuelo Quintero was cooking when she heard shots pepper her west-side neighborhood. Quintero, 50, bolted from her apartment into a nearby alley.
Sprawled on the pavement, blood smeared on his shirt, was her worst fear confirmed. Despite her screams, her son Carlos, 16, would not open his eyes.
"I thought he was going to die," Quintero recalled recently. Carlos survived the attack by rival street-gang members, but he was left paralyzed and in a wheelchair.
Gun violence remains a characteristic of the nation's cities. But the growing national debate over the issue stems instead from a widespread perception, created largely by news coverage, that the problem has spread to white, middle-class suburbia.
Intense coverage of the massacre at Columbine High School in suburban Denver last year "dramatized the issue in such a way that no one can say, 'It does not affect me,' " said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader in the 1960s civil rights movement. "The gun violence that has been so real and so powerful in the lives of people in the inner city has now engulfed all of us."
Donna Dees-Thomases, the 42-year-old New Jersey mother of two who organized the Million Mom March on the National Mall in May, said she was inspired to activism by televised images of preschoolers being led away from a shooting rampage at a day care center in Granada Hills, Calif. The picture, she said, made her fear for her own children.
Statistics, however, show that gun violence still primarily plagues urban minorities. Death rates remain unusually high for young black men in core urban areas, according to a 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
And contrary to popular perceptions, most gun deaths are suicides, not homicides, and person-to-person gun violence is declining, experts say.
Those facts have not prevented the issue from catapulting to prominence in this year's presidential debate. It's the first time guns have gotten such attention since 1968, when political assassinations and urban riots galvanized the electorate.
Antigun side gains allies
Various polls suggest many Americans favor tougher gun laws. And a sizable group of those polled say a presidential candidate's position on gun laws will have at least some influence on for whom they vote.
Despite grumbling that the mothers became active only after they thought gun violence had spread to their own neighborhoods, antigun activists welcomed them to the cause, especially after several hundred thousand people turned out at the Million Mom March on Mother's Day.
Advocates of stricter controls on gun sales and ownership say they hope the moms will add political muscle to the movement, which has made little headway in Congress.
Mike Barnes, president of Handgun Control Inc. and a former Democratic House member from Maryland, recalls the political pressure generated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which helped foster a nationwide crackdown on drinking and driving.
"Once the moms got energized, it changed the dynamic. Once awakened, they are a significant political force," Barnes said.
Whether the million moms will be as effective as MADD is open to question, however. Social movements such as curbing drunken driving or expanding civil rights for minorities typically coalesce around legislative solutions, said Robert Bresler, a political scientist at Pennsylvania State University. But the gun-control movement is split over what remedies to pursue. It is also up against politically mobilized gun-rights advocates, who say new laws won't reduce the violence.
"If the antigun movement is able to build a strong middle-class constituency, and they can agree on a particular set of legislative accomplishments, it might become effective," Bresler said.
To further complicate matters, it isn't clear that the gun violence is getting worse, despite the rash of widely publicized school shootings.
There were 32,436 deaths from firearms in 1997, according to the most recent statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Roughly 54 percent of them -- 17,566 -- were suicides, with the highest rate among white men ages 35 to 44. Homicide accounted for 13,522 of the deaths, or slightly less than 42 percent. The rest were unintentional shootings.
A presidential issue
Although gun-related deaths remain high in the United States compared with other industrialized countries, deaths and injuries from guns peaked in 1993 and have declined every year since, the CDC reports. The agency cites the booming economy, the aging population, the decline of crack cocaine use and law enforcement crackdowns as possible reasons.
However, gun-related homicide rates remain high for young black men, especially in cities, according to the JAMA study. For those ages 15 to 24, it was 175 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 30 gun-related deaths per 100,000 for young white males in urban areas.
Outside the cities, the firearm death rate for young black suburban men dropped to 92 per 100,000 compared with eight per 100,000 young white suburban men, according to the JAMA study, which is based on 1995 statistics.
Renewed activism by gun-control advocates led the National Rifle Association to say in May that it will try to raise and spend a record amount to help defeat Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic presidential candidate.
Gore and his Republican rival, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, take markedly different approaches to guns.
Gore has called for a mandatory, state-run system of photo licenses for handgun buyers, similar to the driver-licensing system. He would ban cheaply made handguns frequently used in crimes. And he would limit individuals to one gun purchase a month in an effort to stop traffickers who resell guns to criminals, children and others ineligible to buy them.
The vice president also said he would require 3-day waiting periods for guns bought at gun shows like the one where the two young killers at Columbine bought their weapons.
Bush opposes mandatory registration of guns or licensing of owners. He emphasizes "Americans' constitutional right to own guns to protect their families and homes," a reference to the Second Amendment's guarantee that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Bush says he would provide more federal money to beef up enforcement of existing gun laws. He supports background checks at gun shows, but only if they can be done immediately through the national system.
[/quote]
[This message has been edited by JimR (edited July 05, 2000).]
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Gun-violence myth driving campaigns
Whites in suburbs fear their kids are targets; statistics say otherwise
July 3, 2000
BY JACKIE KOSZCZUK
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF
CHICAGO -- Consuelo Quintero was cooking when she heard shots pepper her west-side neighborhood. Quintero, 50, bolted from her apartment into a nearby alley.
Sprawled on the pavement, blood smeared on his shirt, was her worst fear confirmed. Despite her screams, her son Carlos, 16, would not open his eyes.
"I thought he was going to die," Quintero recalled recently. Carlos survived the attack by rival street-gang members, but he was left paralyzed and in a wheelchair.
Gun violence remains a characteristic of the nation's cities. But the growing national debate over the issue stems instead from a widespread perception, created largely by news coverage, that the problem has spread to white, middle-class suburbia.
Intense coverage of the massacre at Columbine High School in suburban Denver last year "dramatized the issue in such a way that no one can say, 'It does not affect me,' " said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader in the 1960s civil rights movement. "The gun violence that has been so real and so powerful in the lives of people in the inner city has now engulfed all of us."
Donna Dees-Thomases, the 42-year-old New Jersey mother of two who organized the Million Mom March on the National Mall in May, said she was inspired to activism by televised images of preschoolers being led away from a shooting rampage at a day care center in Granada Hills, Calif. The picture, she said, made her fear for her own children.
Statistics, however, show that gun violence still primarily plagues urban minorities. Death rates remain unusually high for young black men in core urban areas, according to a 1998 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
And contrary to popular perceptions, most gun deaths are suicides, not homicides, and person-to-person gun violence is declining, experts say.
Those facts have not prevented the issue from catapulting to prominence in this year's presidential debate. It's the first time guns have gotten such attention since 1968, when political assassinations and urban riots galvanized the electorate.
Antigun side gains allies
Various polls suggest many Americans favor tougher gun laws. And a sizable group of those polled say a presidential candidate's position on gun laws will have at least some influence on for whom they vote.
Despite grumbling that the mothers became active only after they thought gun violence had spread to their own neighborhoods, antigun activists welcomed them to the cause, especially after several hundred thousand people turned out at the Million Mom March on Mother's Day.
Advocates of stricter controls on gun sales and ownership say they hope the moms will add political muscle to the movement, which has made little headway in Congress.
Mike Barnes, president of Handgun Control Inc. and a former Democratic House member from Maryland, recalls the political pressure generated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which helped foster a nationwide crackdown on drinking and driving.
"Once the moms got energized, it changed the dynamic. Once awakened, they are a significant political force," Barnes said.
Whether the million moms will be as effective as MADD is open to question, however. Social movements such as curbing drunken driving or expanding civil rights for minorities typically coalesce around legislative solutions, said Robert Bresler, a political scientist at Pennsylvania State University. But the gun-control movement is split over what remedies to pursue. It is also up against politically mobilized gun-rights advocates, who say new laws won't reduce the violence.
"If the antigun movement is able to build a strong middle-class constituency, and they can agree on a particular set of legislative accomplishments, it might become effective," Bresler said.
To further complicate matters, it isn't clear that the gun violence is getting worse, despite the rash of widely publicized school shootings.
There were 32,436 deaths from firearms in 1997, according to the most recent statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Roughly 54 percent of them -- 17,566 -- were suicides, with the highest rate among white men ages 35 to 44. Homicide accounted for 13,522 of the deaths, or slightly less than 42 percent. The rest were unintentional shootings.
A presidential issue
Although gun-related deaths remain high in the United States compared with other industrialized countries, deaths and injuries from guns peaked in 1993 and have declined every year since, the CDC reports. The agency cites the booming economy, the aging population, the decline of crack cocaine use and law enforcement crackdowns as possible reasons.
However, gun-related homicide rates remain high for young black men, especially in cities, according to the JAMA study. For those ages 15 to 24, it was 175 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 30 gun-related deaths per 100,000 for young white males in urban areas.
Outside the cities, the firearm death rate for young black suburban men dropped to 92 per 100,000 compared with eight per 100,000 young white suburban men, according to the JAMA study, which is based on 1995 statistics.
Renewed activism by gun-control advocates led the National Rifle Association to say in May that it will try to raise and spend a record amount to help defeat Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic presidential candidate.
Gore and his Republican rival, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, take markedly different approaches to guns.
Gore has called for a mandatory, state-run system of photo licenses for handgun buyers, similar to the driver-licensing system. He would ban cheaply made handguns frequently used in crimes. And he would limit individuals to one gun purchase a month in an effort to stop traffickers who resell guns to criminals, children and others ineligible to buy them.
The vice president also said he would require 3-day waiting periods for guns bought at gun shows like the one where the two young killers at Columbine bought their weapons.
Bush opposes mandatory registration of guns or licensing of owners. He emphasizes "Americans' constitutional right to own guns to protect their families and homes," a reference to the Second Amendment's guarantee that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Bush says he would provide more federal money to beef up enforcement of existing gun laws. He supports background checks at gun shows, but only if they can be done immediately through the national system.
[/quote]
[This message has been edited by JimR (edited July 05, 2000).]