Let's get this straight - just how many kids are killed every day in America?

T

thaddeus

New member
Stats I read for 1993 say that 204 kids died that year from guns (accidental and non-accidental).
Those stats also stated that if 25 year-olds and younger are considered "kids" that one-per-day are killed (a number that anti-gunners like to use because it sounds better for them).

Rosie first said that "16 kids a day are killed with guns". Then, last week, she seems to have educated herself just a bit and now says that "every other day a child is killed with a gun". Sounds like she got the right number, at least the ones I have seen in stats.

BUT, the Center for Disease Control (non-profic, non-biased group!?!) is starting a big campaign in my county and advertising that "13 kids a day die from guns in America" and that "trigger locks are the solution".

OKAY......(big breath).....first of all, it is yet to be determined how many of these "kids" deserve it! Gang bangers deserve what they get and may of them are considered "kids". Sorry...poor choices.

But, leaving that aside, and pretending that all child deaths from guns are accidents....just how many are there? Personally, I rarely hear about them, and you can bet that the news reports them. So, there can't be that many accidental shootings or they would be ramming them down our throats every day.

Anyway, setting all aside and setting aside whether they are accidental or not, what is the right number?
Is it one every other day? Around 200 a year? 13 a day!? 16 a day!?

Who has the facts out there? Because I keep hearing different numbers...drastically different.

thaddeus
 
For children under 14 years, it's around 180 purely accidental deaths per year.

For deliberate killings with firearms by the 18 and under set, it's around 1,600 per year.

I won't argue as to 180 or 200; nor 1,600 or 1,800. Numbers in these ranges come from whatever statistician works for the US Gummint and keeps track of this sort of thing.

Somewhere in the world of .gov you can search and find accident rates; regardless of group, accidental deaths by firearms of all sorts rank down around 10th place.

Note that some 1,500 kids die from bicycle accidents, and around 11,000 people, including kids, drown.

Again, it ain't a crime issue or an accident issue: It's a disarmament issue, first; and then a "swaddling-cloth, safe-and-secure-world" issue, second...

Regards, Art
 
Factoid: In 1996, 30 children under 5 died from firearms accidents, vs. 35 drowning in buckets. go figure. Lies, damned lies, statistics. Unfortunately, the numbers stuck in my head, the source reference didn't.

If I might make asuggestion here guys,we all need to be conversant on these things as we converse with and seek to persuade the uninformed. Let's make an effort to include the source and methodology when we can for the magic numbers. Good science and facts at least provides a rational base to engage the Mad Cow (Rosie) and other rabble rousers, assuming they even want to discuss things logically/factually (big IF). DC and others have good citations at their web sites, maybe we could put some of this stuff in the TFL library or start a references thread?
M2
 
Since there is nothin' like the horses mouth, here it is!
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/osp/usmort.htm

The numbers are good through 1996 and are updated 18 months after the end of the year. So 97 will be available 1/2 way through 99.

For those not wishing to mire through the tables, in 1996 138(.38/day) children aged 0-14 died due to accidental firearms in the entire US. 693(1.9/day) children 0-14 died by firearm(homicide, suicide, accident etc...)period. Now there is a big jump if you include 15-19 y.o.'s to the tune of 3,950 more, roughly 2/3 of which are homicide and 1/3 suicide(only 238 are accidental).

Let us compare that to(accidental death of 0-14) MVA's-3,015(22X more), drowning-981(7x more), pedestrian- 729(5x), suffocation-666(5x), fire-740(5x), bicycle-197(1.4x), poisoning-109, fall-106, unintentional struck by or against- 86.

Where the anti's are pumping up the stats is by using the 15-19 y.o.'s, AND specifically homicide and suicide figures in this group.

As far as accidental death by firearms the safety record is pretty good.....period, ranking just above poisoning, falls, and accidentally being struck. It only accounts for 2% of accidental deaths in the 0-14 and 2.8% of accidental deaths in the 0-19 range nationwide.

Clearly pools, cars, bicycles, all household cleaning products, and walking in the vicinity of vehicles should be banned to maximize the number of children saved each year.

question authority,

olazul
 
"Factoid: In 1996, 30 children under 5 died from firearms accidents, vs. 35 drowning in buckets"

So the answer is bucket covers! Bucket covers for every household! Save a child: cover a bucket or store it upside down!

(bucket drownings are not nearly as sensationalistic as gun deaths...so why make a stink about them on the news?)

Also, the CDC is telling us to use trigger locks to prevent the 13 kids a day that die...as if trigger locks are going to stop gangster shootings. Sounds like they are muddling statisitics. Trigger locks have nothing to do with the 13 deaths a day. What's new.
 
Thanks, Olazul, that's the stuff we need. The homocide/suicide numbers fro 15 & up are teh damning ones, as you pointedut, the overall safety record for acidental deaths by firearms is pretty low (still a shame, though) and realy not too alarming when you cite all the other potential causes of accidental deaths. By age 15, most kids can pretty much figure out how to get a gun if they really want one, and I don't think you can do much about the criminal use of guns by this age group except deal with them (harshly) when you catch them. Suicide is a tough one, because guns are convenient and unforgiving (rarely a second chance), but if they're really determine to off themselves, they'll find a way, regardless.

BTW, Coineach, you be pleased to know that the Consumer Product Safety Commission spent several hundred thousand of our tax dollars trying to design a 'safe' (drown-proof) bucket. Every design they came up with so severly compromised the function of the bucket so as to make it useless for its intended purpose, i.e. to carry stuff, proving once again, life is not without risks.
M2
 
BTW, Coineach, you be pleased to know that the Consumer Product Safety Commission spent several hundred thousand of our tax dollars trying to design a 'safe'(drown-proof) bucket. Every design they came up with so severly compromised the function of the bucket so as to make it useless for its intended purpose, i.e. to carry stuff, proving once again, life is not without risks.

Thanks, M2, I needed that. I was starting to feel good about the grubmint, and needed the reality check.

Really.

Speaking of grubment idiocy, I wonder if anyone pointed out to the congressweasels that kids can open child-proof bottle caps easier than adults.
 
Noel
Dr Smith-Coggons has a dazzling command of the obvious - toddlers need supervision as they explore around the home? Ya need a PhD to figure that one out? Keep her outa the gene pool.
M2
 
Rosie called Larry King Live on 2 June show. She claimed 5,000 children were killed with guns every year. When asked if she would consider repealing the Second Amendment, she said yes she would...

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Join the NRA!!!
 
Floyd...

Rosie's call was a set-up. King was interviewing that paragon of Constitutional scholarship, Mia Farrow and as she was talking about repealing the 2ndA....Rosie happens to call in and get through.

Yah, I believe it was coincidental ;)

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"
 
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