They have to lie
Got wind of this hideous website called Goodbye Guns from Kim. One of the facts it lists is that The *NUMBER ONE* cause of children’s deaths in the home is guns.
Really? The CDC says it’s suffocation. As does the National Safety Council:
In 1998, motor vehicle accident deaths claimed the lives of 2,600 children aged 0 to 14; 200 suffocated to death; 570 were killed by fire or burns; 850 drowned; 70 were poisoned, 160 died from falls; and 40 died from carbon monoxide inhalation. During the same period, guns “principally in recreational activities or on home premises” accidentally killed 110 kids aged 1 to 14 years.
If you want, you can email the asshat who runs the site at clark@goodbyeguns.org.
Update: Edited to clarify that deaths from car accidents aren’t actually in the home.
March 4th, 2005 at 8:46 am
Wait, he said in the home. Those car accidents aren’t happening in the home, now are they? Hmmmm????
March 4th, 2005 at 9:16 am
What about suffocatin, fire, etc? Probably in the home.
March 4th, 2005 at 9:37 am
They didn’t do the define-kids-as-up-to and-including-25-year-old-gang-members did they?
March 4th, 2005 at 9:49 am
What about suffocatin, fire, etc? Probably in the home.
Yeah….well…but GUNS!
March 4th, 2005 at 12:57 pm
I dunno. Most car accidents don’t occur in homes, but the ones that do can be real doozies.
March 4th, 2005 at 1:06 pm
Seriously, though, has this maroon ever heard of backyard swimming pools? Or is this a clever “in” vs. “at” game, where everything on your property counts as “at” home, but only the stuff contained within the four walls of your house counts as “in” it?
March 4th, 2005 at 1:08 pm
Nevermind – I misread it. Pools are very dangerous when it comes to accidental deaths, but are rarely used to cause them intentionally. If I were feeling suicidal myself, I’d be more inclined to grab a gun than to go out for a swim.
March 4th, 2005 at 7:52 pm
You just didn’t read in depth enough. The report really reads:
200 suffocated to death by gun targets; 570 were killed by fire or burns from overheated gun barrels; 850 drowned by guns; 70 were poisoned from the lead contained in bullets, 160 died from falls tripping over guns; and 40 died from carbon monoxide inhalation given off from the firing of guns.
March 5th, 2005 at 2:07 pm
The email bounced back as bad. I bet this re-re got so many emails he turned it off.
March 6th, 2005 at 11:59 am
“They didn’t do the define-kids-as-up-to and-including-25-year-old-gang-members did they?” Probably. And “in the home” must be defined to include the ‘hood – but only for gun deaths, not for auto accidents.
March 6th, 2005 at 5:25 pm
the numbers for accdential gun deaths not not as concentrated on those as younger than 16 as you would think.
Most of them happen in those over 16.
March 8th, 2005 at 12:00 pm
Just curious – the NSC data is from 1998. Is it possible his data is from a more recent report?
Askin’…
March 8th, 2005 at 12:04 pm
Couldn’t find more recent NSC data. However, the CDC report (last one I saw from 2001) says about the same thing.