By Jeff Knox
Buckeye, AZ –-(Ammoland.com)- In discussing the lies and distortions popular among anti-rights extremists – and their media supporters – I recently commented on their claims that “3000 children die in gun violence every year,” and that “gun deaths exceed traffic deaths” in this or that state.
I only mentioned these in passing, but I think they deserve more thorough scrutiny.
“3000 children are killed by guns every year!”
It has been said that a half-truth is like a half brick – it goes farther. The “3000 children” chestnut is a fine example of a lie that contains a half-truth. The total number of “children” – people nineteen or under – who died from gunfire has hovered around 2700 annually for several years. No doubt it’s too high, but the number includes murders and suicides among teens. In their propaganda pieces and campaigns like ASK (“Asking Saves Kids), the Brady Bunch and their media friends use the “3000 children” number to focus attention on accidental “gun deaths” deaths of children in the home,
but a closer look at the numbers reveal a very different story.
According to the CDC, there were 110 unintentional, firearm-related deaths among children and youth age 0 to 19 in 2012. While that is unacceptably high, it is a far cry from 3000. It is also important to consider that this CDC statistic includes hunting accidents, teens who should have known better, and adults who accidentally shot children. Still, the Brady Bunch implies that 3000 small children’s lives could be saved if parents would “just ask” about guns. The implication is intentional and it is untrue. In other words, it is a lie.
We won’t trivialize the death of any child, but the Bradys’ ASK project, like so much that is done by the anti-rights crowd, is not really about saving lives, it’s about creating fear and stigma around guns. By raw numbers, drowning is almost ten times the hazard that firearms represent, and both numbers are dwarfed by the real danger to children, motor vehicle accidents.
If the Brady Bunch were really interested in saving children they’d be campaigning for pool fences and child safety seats, and they’d be calling for parents to ask about storage of medications and household cleaning products.
What about intentional shootings involving children and youths? The majority of children – 0 to 15 – and youths – 15 to 19 – who die by gunfire are victims of homicide. Homicide accounts for about two thirds of the total in both age groups together. Among children, the killers are almost always adults, and predominantly a parent, stepparent or boyfriend, or someone else close to the family. Among youths, the killer is often a criminal associate in the drug trade or a competing gang member. The 15-19 age group also has a statistically significant incidence of being victims of justified homicide, in which they were shot by police or armed citizens during the commission of a crime.
The numbers do not reflect an epidemic or a growing problem, but rather a sad challenge which gun owners have been effectively battling for decades. Accidents and crime involving firearms have been steadily declining for decades, while guns and gun ownership have been rising dramatically. We have proven that it is not laws and restrictions that save lives, but rather education.
“Gun deaths exceed traffic deaths!”
This factoid too is based on a verifiable fact, but it is presented in a way that misrepresents the truth.
Comparing accidental deaths involving automobiles to mostly intentional deaths involving firearms, is not a reasonable comparison to begin with, but even if you disregard the apples-to-oranges disparity, the results, as presented by the gun control lobby, are seriously distorted. They present the numbers as though “gun deaths” were on the rise and surpassing automobile deaths, which is simply not the case. Once again, it is an intentional implication of something that is false – a lie.
What is true is that traffic fatalities have fallen dramatically in recent years. In some age groups the declines have been truly amazing. Better car construction, increased seatbelt use, and attrition of older, less safe cars – along with higher gasoline prices – have had an impact.
What the gun control extremists choose not to mention is that firearm accidents have also been in steep decline, as have firearm-related homicides. As a matter of fact, accidental firearm deaths and firearm-related homicides have both gone down at faster rates than auto fatalities.
The one area where firearm-related deaths have not declined is suicide.
Unfortunately our nation’s suicide rate has held relatively steady for decades, going down a bit in good times and up a bit in bad times. According to the World Health Organization, the US has the 30th highest suicide rate in the world, well behind Japan, Russia, and France, which all have stringent firearm restrictions. It should be no surprise that in a country with over 300 million firearms, guns are the most common tool of people wishing to end their own lives. Firearms are used in just about half of all completed suicides in the country. While [in a dream world] the complete eradication of legal firearms from our country would undoubtedly reduce our “firearms suicide” rate, it would probably have little impact on the number of people who actually kill themselves. As proven by the high rates in gun-restricted countries such as Japan, people committed to ending their own lives find effective ways of accomplishing their desire.
More than one third of all firearm-related deaths in the US are suicides, and that stubborn suicide rate has resulted in traffic deaths falling faster than overall “gun deaths.” So, like all good liars, the gun control lobby is using a grain of truth to paint a picture that is a lie.
Honest facts are not on the side of gun control, therefore those lobbying for infringements on our rights are left with a choice of either giving up and going home, or lying and misrepresenting the facts to keep their grants and funding coming in. Not surprisingly, they choose the lies.
About:
The Firearms Coalition is a loose-knit coalition of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs and civil rights organizations. Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, the organization provides support to grassroots activists in the form of education, analysis of current issues, and with a historical perspective of the gun rights movement. The Firearms Coalition is a project of Neal Knox Associates, Manassas, VA. Visit: www.FirearmsCoalition.org