from the Waterbury Republican-American
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Unreported Gun Facts
Friday, July 28, 2000
The late Spiro Agnew is derided to this day for calling the media the "nattering nabobs of negativism," but it may well be that his words are truer today than when he
spoke them three decades ago.
It explains, for example, why the media didn't get very excited this week when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued its annual report on mortality in
America. It showed that in 1998, life expectancy reached an all-time high — 76.7 years — while gun-related deaths dropped for the fourth straight year. One would think
this double-dose of welcome news would make headlines, but what little coverage the media mustered was slanted to help the Clinton administration advance its
gun-control agenda.
The report said 30,708 Americans died from gunshot wounds in 1998, down 5 percent from 1997 and 22 percent from 1994; the number of victims under 20 fell by 10
percent from 1997 and a whopping 35 percent from 1994. No matter, the negativism bubbled to the surface.
"Each day, 10 children and teens are killed by firearms, and that is 10 too many," said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. Her assertion was intended to
conjure up visions of the 6-year-old Michigan boy who killed a classmate this year with a gun he stole from his crack-dealing step-father, or of children tragically dying in
accidental shootings.
But the facts tell a different story. Of the 7,954 firearm deaths among people under 25 in 1998, 636 — fewer than 2 per day — involved kids 14 and under. Of the rest, the
vast majority may be classified by the government as "children" or "teenagers," but a better label is "violent youthful offenders."
Accidents, meanwhile, accounted for only 3.5 percent of all gun-related deaths. And none of the numbers in the report speak to the hundreds of thousands of lives —
including countless children — saved every day when guns are used for their greatest purpose: self-defense.
The media didn't challenge Ms. Shalala when she proclaimed that the "significant decrease" in gun deaths shows the administration's "violence-prevention efforts are
showing results." Conveniently ignored was the fact that the White House wasn't gung-ho about gun violence until after the Columbine High School tragedy in April
1999. So its efforts — consisting mostly of political rhetoric and slanderous attacks on law-abiding gun owners — are not represented in the latest HHS report.
In a perfect world, guns would not imperil children, but just as laws have failed to eradicate homicides, drunken driving, spousal abuse, rapes, robberies or any other crime,
so, too, will new gun laws fail to save lives.
What America needs is more of what contributed to the vastly improved gun-mortality statistics: better public awareness of gun safety; safer storage and use of weapons
by gun owners; tougher enforcement of existing gun laws; and more gun owners and their families receiving firearms training.
Americans have a constitutional right to own guns to protect themselves from criminals and, if need be, the tyranny of their government. And all the White House and
media spin will not change that.[/quote]
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Unreported Gun Facts
Friday, July 28, 2000
The late Spiro Agnew is derided to this day for calling the media the "nattering nabobs of negativism," but it may well be that his words are truer today than when he
spoke them three decades ago.
It explains, for example, why the media didn't get very excited this week when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued its annual report on mortality in
America. It showed that in 1998, life expectancy reached an all-time high — 76.7 years — while gun-related deaths dropped for the fourth straight year. One would think
this double-dose of welcome news would make headlines, but what little coverage the media mustered was slanted to help the Clinton administration advance its
gun-control agenda.
The report said 30,708 Americans died from gunshot wounds in 1998, down 5 percent from 1997 and 22 percent from 1994; the number of victims under 20 fell by 10
percent from 1997 and a whopping 35 percent from 1994. No matter, the negativism bubbled to the surface.
"Each day, 10 children and teens are killed by firearms, and that is 10 too many," said Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. Her assertion was intended to
conjure up visions of the 6-year-old Michigan boy who killed a classmate this year with a gun he stole from his crack-dealing step-father, or of children tragically dying in
accidental shootings.
But the facts tell a different story. Of the 7,954 firearm deaths among people under 25 in 1998, 636 — fewer than 2 per day — involved kids 14 and under. Of the rest, the
vast majority may be classified by the government as "children" or "teenagers," but a better label is "violent youthful offenders."
Accidents, meanwhile, accounted for only 3.5 percent of all gun-related deaths. And none of the numbers in the report speak to the hundreds of thousands of lives —
including countless children — saved every day when guns are used for their greatest purpose: self-defense.
The media didn't challenge Ms. Shalala when she proclaimed that the "significant decrease" in gun deaths shows the administration's "violence-prevention efforts are
showing results." Conveniently ignored was the fact that the White House wasn't gung-ho about gun violence until after the Columbine High School tragedy in April
1999. So its efforts — consisting mostly of political rhetoric and slanderous attacks on law-abiding gun owners — are not represented in the latest HHS report.
In a perfect world, guns would not imperil children, but just as laws have failed to eradicate homicides, drunken driving, spousal abuse, rapes, robberies or any other crime,
so, too, will new gun laws fail to save lives.
What America needs is more of what contributed to the vastly improved gun-mortality statistics: better public awareness of gun safety; safer storage and use of weapons
by gun owners; tougher enforcement of existing gun laws; and more gun owners and their families receiving firearms training.
Americans have a constitutional right to own guns to protect themselves from criminals and, if need be, the tyranny of their government. And all the White House and
media spin will not change that.[/quote]