62% Of All Statistics Are Made Up On The Spot
Or so the old saying goes. Although not entirely made up, many in the anti gun-rights crowd like to point to any general statistic, especially one involving "the children" as fodder for their arguments to further stigmatize those who own firearms. Take yet another In Touch "common man/woman" editorialist, Ruby Grosdidier, who in the Indianapolis Star this week reminded us that June 21st was National ASK Day, the day in which parents and kids are supposed to ask of their neighbors and their neighbors friends "who owns a gun"?
She highlights that this is an important question because, she quotes the statistic:
A study published in the September 2005 issue of Pediatrics found that about 1.7 million youths under age 18 are living in homes with loaded and unlocked guns. In addition, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2002, 4,303 children and teenagers were unintentionally injured or killed by gun.
Taking into account the massive numbers of guns versus her reported accidents, that in itself is a fairly small number for such a large quantity of loaded and untended firearms. That doesn't take into account for the over 200 million guns owned by 70 to 80 million Americans as well and still, we have only her 4,303 deaths a year with "children and teenagers" unintentionally injured or killed.
The gun and gun ownership numbers are fairly common and slightly old numbers - perhaps even lower than the current total, but how does the 4,303 number really break down? Well, first let's take a look at some numbers we do know, like these from GunSafe. Those numbers are a bit dated, though, so let's go right to the horse's mouth and look at the CDC statistics for 2002, where our writer allegedly got her statistics from.
Hmmm...on page 32 we see all ages show only 762 deaths by accidental discharge of firearms in the United States in 2002. That's from the very young to very old. Ok, let's focus down on the "under 20" range. Well, actually, the study only lets us look at under 24. It doesn't break it down again til 14 and under 24 there were 270, if I did my math correctly. Well, that's a sight lower than 4,303, but you know what they say about statistics, especially unsupported ones. Just look at this blog article's title.
Every death of a child is a tragedy, but to take the 60 deaths last year of kids under 14, assume they're all because of unlocked and accessible guns and real accidents with no other motive, then campaign that they are more horrible than any of the dozens of other just as serious types of deaths children face every year is disingenous at best and sick propaganda at worst. In fact, a quick Google check even for the number 4,303 produced nothing remotely like a statistic from the CDC, well, except of course Ms. Grosdidier's own blog entry.
There is also a wonderful write-up on the phenomenon of lumping all deaths for those under 21 as "little Jimmy shooting little Suzie with daddy's loaded gun". These usually include a large number of drug and gang-related shootings, as examined in this article on GunCite.
There is also the fact that many of these deaths are the end-result of a period of abuse that resulted in the death of a child. These are not accidents. They are parents who were allowed to harm or kill their children. We need only turn on the nightly news to see that creative murderers don't always need a gun to kill the weak or helpless, especially children.
I think her overall premise isn't terribly off base, albeit a bit busy-bodyish. If my child is playing at a friend's house, I most certainly want to know it's safe where she's playing. However, such "National Days" are not organized out of such common sense thoughts. They are organized by those who wish to catalog and stigmatize firearm owners starting with making children equate all firearms with danger or something bad. It's the same tool used to rewrite history in today's textbooks, the same tool to stigmatize smokers, fast food eaters and generally anyone the Left doesn't like as a group. Start with the kids.
Instead of asking my child to inform on anyone who might have a gun in their house, I've tried to educate her in responsible behavior and respect for such things and on what to do should she encounter a loaded weapon. And yes, I go so far as to keep such weapons safely secured and unloaded, because I know not all parents take such proactive measures. Fearing an inanimate piece of metal does no one any good and might actually cause harm. If anything, it is such fear that leads to misunderstanding, curiousity and true danger. Understanding that it is just a tool, albeit a dangerous one, empowers a child to know that their environment is not so frightening.
Rather than teaching your children to be fearful, overemotional, and knee-jerk little informants, teach them to be good, responsible citizens and there may yet be hope for our nation's future.
Or so the old saying goes. Although not entirely made up, many in the anti gun-rights crowd like to point to any general statistic, especially one involving "the children" as fodder for their arguments to further stigmatize those who own firearms. Take yet another In Touch "common man/woman" editorialist, Ruby Grosdidier, who in the Indianapolis Star this week reminded us that June 21st was National ASK Day, the day in which parents and kids are supposed to ask of their neighbors and their neighbors friends "who owns a gun"?
She highlights that this is an important question because, she quotes the statistic:
A study published in the September 2005 issue of Pediatrics found that about 1.7 million youths under age 18 are living in homes with loaded and unlocked guns. In addition, a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in 2002, 4,303 children and teenagers were unintentionally injured or killed by gun.
Taking into account the massive numbers of guns versus her reported accidents, that in itself is a fairly small number for such a large quantity of loaded and untended firearms. That doesn't take into account for the over 200 million guns owned by 70 to 80 million Americans as well and still, we have only her 4,303 deaths a year with "children and teenagers" unintentionally injured or killed.
The gun and gun ownership numbers are fairly common and slightly old numbers - perhaps even lower than the current total, but how does the 4,303 number really break down? Well, first let's take a look at some numbers we do know, like these from GunSafe. Those numbers are a bit dated, though, so let's go right to the horse's mouth and look at the CDC statistics for 2002, where our writer allegedly got her statistics from.
Hmmm...on page 32 we see all ages show only 762 deaths by accidental discharge of firearms in the United States in 2002. That's from the very young to very old. Ok, let's focus down on the "under 20" range. Well, actually, the study only lets us look at under 24. It doesn't break it down again til 14 and under 24 there were 270, if I did my math correctly. Well, that's a sight lower than 4,303, but you know what they say about statistics, especially unsupported ones. Just look at this blog article's title.
Every death of a child is a tragedy, but to take the 60 deaths last year of kids under 14, assume they're all because of unlocked and accessible guns and real accidents with no other motive, then campaign that they are more horrible than any of the dozens of other just as serious types of deaths children face every year is disingenous at best and sick propaganda at worst. In fact, a quick Google check even for the number 4,303 produced nothing remotely like a statistic from the CDC, well, except of course Ms. Grosdidier's own blog entry.
There is also a wonderful write-up on the phenomenon of lumping all deaths for those under 21 as "little Jimmy shooting little Suzie with daddy's loaded gun". These usually include a large number of drug and gang-related shootings, as examined in this article on GunCite.
There is also the fact that many of these deaths are the end-result of a period of abuse that resulted in the death of a child. These are not accidents. They are parents who were allowed to harm or kill their children. We need only turn on the nightly news to see that creative murderers don't always need a gun to kill the weak or helpless, especially children.
I think her overall premise isn't terribly off base, albeit a bit busy-bodyish. If my child is playing at a friend's house, I most certainly want to know it's safe where she's playing. However, such "National Days" are not organized out of such common sense thoughts. They are organized by those who wish to catalog and stigmatize firearm owners starting with making children equate all firearms with danger or something bad. It's the same tool used to rewrite history in today's textbooks, the same tool to stigmatize smokers, fast food eaters and generally anyone the Left doesn't like as a group. Start with the kids.
Instead of asking my child to inform on anyone who might have a gun in their house, I've tried to educate her in responsible behavior and respect for such things and on what to do should she encounter a loaded weapon. And yes, I go so far as to keep such weapons safely secured and unloaded, because I know not all parents take such proactive measures. Fearing an inanimate piece of metal does no one any good and might actually cause harm. If anything, it is such fear that leads to misunderstanding, curiousity and true danger. Understanding that it is just a tool, albeit a dangerous one, empowers a child to know that their environment is not so frightening.
Rather than teaching your children to be fearful, overemotional, and knee-jerk little informants, teach them to be good, responsible citizens and there may yet be hope for our nation's future.
posted by Rob Beck | 7:46 AM
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