[Drizzt]

A Moral Outrage: One American Child or Teen
Killed by Gunfire Nearly Every 3 Hours
New Data Show National Death Toll Reached 2,867 in 2002

January 31, 2005
Contact:
Avram Goldstein: (202) 662-3615
Ron Eckstein: (202) 662-3609

The horrific death toll from gunfire in the United States included 2,867 children and teens in 2002 —
nearly eight deaths a day and 55 a week, according to a report released today by the Children's Defense Fund. Firearms are the second leading cause of death among 10- to 19-year olds, second only to motor vehicle accidents. There were 71 victims under 5 years old. From 1979 through 2002, a total of 95,761 children and teens were killed by firearms in America.

CDF published the latest figures today in “Protect Children, Not Guns,” an annual report that analyzes data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report covers 2002, the most recent year for which national figures are available. CDF analysts broke down the data by state, race, age and manner of death. All the figures are available on the CDF website at www.childrensdefense.org.

CDF President Marian Wright Edelman called for an end to the killing and urged political leaders to take action. “Why are we as a nation so silent in the face of this slaughter of children?” she asked. “At this critical time when the President and our elected leaders in Congress are making budget and legislative decisions, it is more important than ever for parents, faith leaders and citizens to raise a moral voice in favor of choices that protect children.”

In September, President Bush and Congress allowed the federal Assault Weapons Ban to expire after 10 years, making it legal for Americans to buy rapid-fire military-style firearms that are engineered to kill large numbers of people in seconds. In the decade preceding the ban's passage in 1994, the number of children and teens who died from gunfire increased each year. During the ban, the number of deaths of children and teens decreased steadily. In 2002, the annual toll in those age groups was 50 percent lower than in 1994.

“Since 1979, nearly 96,000 children and teenagers have died on the killing fields of America — more than twice the American battle deaths in Vietnam,” Edelman said. “But where are the demonstrations protesting the senseless loss of these children? Why did the President and Congress let the Assault Weapons Ban expire when these deadly firearms are designed only to kill human beings, not to hunt? Why is the NRA able to block the collective will of more than two-thirds of Americans, who favor common-sense gun safety laws?”

The report calls on all Americans to take concrete steps to keep children safe, including advocating for more sensible gun control measures. “Every day in this country we lose almost eight children to the epidemic of gun violence,” said Edelman. “The rate of gun deaths in this country is higher than any other industrialized nation, and there is a reason for that. It is time to stop promoting the gun industry and start protecting our children.”

###

Protect Children, Not Guns” and other gun-related information can be downloaded at the CDF web site, www.childrensdefense.org .

[SteveS]

I work primarily with children and get all sorts of CDF stuff forwarded to me via my employer. If you poke around their site you find all sorts of anti-gun information. Some of it is bad science, such as the Kellerman study. In other places they include 20 year olds in their definition of a "child gun victim."

I do not visit their site, for the most part. I agree with some of their stands, but cannot stomach their position on firearms. Most of the information on the site is from other sources. I don't believe they generate any original research.

[mbs357]

Gun victim? When I hear that the image of a gun madly going off and killing someone comes to mind, and I know that's not possible.
Idiots.

[TallPine]

The vast majority of all those poor "children and teens" were probably drug dealers, gang members, and armed robbers :rolleyes:

[Unisaw]

I glanced at their figures. The following alternative headlines could have been written:

Firearm deaths, persons under age 20, decrease for 8th year in a row.
Accidental firearm deaths, persons under age 20, decrease for 9th year in a row.
Accidental firearm deaths, persons under age 20, decrease 8.2% to record low.
Firearm deaths, persons under age 20, fall again: over 50% decrease in 8 years.

It all depends on what story you want to tell...

[HankB]

So in the eyes of the Children's Defense Fund, when a 19 year old doper who was dishonorably discharged from the Marines gets shot and killed by the 18 year old crack dealer he was trying to score a fix from, that's an instance of a child being a victim of gun violence?

A child?

I'd like to have the authors of this nonsense have an encounter with some of the "children" they're concerned about.

Preferably alone in a dark alley with no police, lights, or camera crews around.

[CentralTexas]

I'd like to help! I have a lot of guns and I'd like to help train children to safely use them. Training= safety. Where should I start?
Thanks!
CT

I couldn't resist....

[flatrock]

18 and 19 year olds are not children.

Guns do not cause people to commit suicide, and people do not require a gun to commit suicide.

While I find murder rates for young children to be very disturbing, I find it difficult to believe that the perpetrator needed a gun to kill a young child.

The number of accidental deaths is surprisingly low for an item that can be deadly if misused. I doubt it ranks high among the items related to accidental deaths.

That pretty much leaves us with homicides where older children are killed.

These homicides hardly require a gun be used. However, I think that there is plenty of evidence that gun are used by people to protect themselves and their families.

It looks that from the numbers they provide, that the benefits of gun ownership can easily outweigh the costs, especially if you take the time to get proper training and education for your family.

However, if they find a way to actually prevent homicide, rather than blame the items used by the criminals, that would be useful.

[Brian Dale]

Some raging, pathological liars don't approve of us? Oh, woe is me... :rolleyes:

[Boats]

Silly me, here I thought abortion was the leading cause of child death at around 800,000 per year estimated by the CDC. Nah, that can't be it because that is a sacred cow of the left. :rolleyes:

[beerslurpy]

Fetuses arent children. Killing them isnt murder. Given a choice between saving a dish containing 10 embryos and a single week-old baby from a burning building, which will it be?

The leading cause of fetus termination, even if abortions were 10x more common would still be natural causes. Fully 80 percent of embryos fail to make it to term. Guess God is the greatest child murderer of all.

About leading cause of actual child deaths, the leading cause would probably be illness but thanks to vaccination, it is probably stuff like eating poison, drowning in bathtubs or exploring plastic bags.

Beleive it or not, most children know that guns are dangerous, although it would probably help if cartoons showed the real effects of gun use rather than sanitizing it so kids think that shooting someone just makes them get knocked out for a minute or two.

I dont think I saw a drop of blood in all of GIJoe. If WWII had the same ratio of casualties to gunfights, we would have had like 5 wounded and no killed. Would have been a pretty incredible D day landing. All the guys falling over and getting back up again to keep charging and then knocking out the machine guns nests with fisticuffs. Although I'm not sure Cobra Commander makes a better enemy boss than Hitler, I am pretty sure Destro makes a more kickass henchman than Goebels.

[carebear]

Destro in round one, definitely.

Odd twist having the reasonably competent henchmen continually screwed up by the incompetent leader. Or would that actually parallel Hitler and the Nazi generals?

And there's no sexy Nazi alternative to the Baroness.

Unless it would be the Baroness?

Mmmmmmm, Baroness.

[Standing Wolf]

Whenever I hear leftist extremists advocating anything "for the sake of the innocent children," I'm sure the nation's civil rights are being infringed again.

If they cared about children, they'd advocate taking criminals off the streets and slamming them in prison cells.

[natedog]

I would love to see their reaction if they saw me, a 15 year old, sitting hear and reading their article while cradling my 7.62 SKS "assault rifle" :D .

[P95Carry]

I would love to see their reaction if they saw me, a 15 year old, sitting hear and reading their article while cradling my 7.62 SKS "assault rifle" nate - they'd probably want you locked up.! How can you be safe they'd say!! ''Kid with 'assault rifle'' ..'' - shock, horror!

[Art Eatman]

I think the data is for 2003:

101,000 deaths by accident. Of these, 1,000 via firearms. For those 14 and under, 100 deaths where firearms were involved.

(I remember from CDC data that the 14-and-under number for 1993 was 133.)

Anyway, in this children's age group, deaths from car wrecks runs some 3,500 per year; from drowning, around 1,100.

Art

[DRZinn]

15-yr-old with "assault rifle" = "child soldier"

[DelayedReaction]

I'm sure these peope included suicides in their tally of cause of death, but I'm having trouble believing that firearms kill more children than drowning does.

[jke456]

In September, President Bush and Congress allowed the federal Assault Weapons Ban to expire after 10 years, making it legal for Americans to buy rapid-fire military-style firearms that are engineered to kill large numbers of people in seconds. In the decade preceding the ban's passage in 1994, the number of children and teens who died from gunfire increased each year. During the ban, the number of deaths of children and teens decreased steadily. In 2002, the annual toll in those age groups was 50 percent lower than in 1994.



:banghead:
:cuss:

connecting the dots in how they wish

:cuss:

[El Rojo]

15 years old? Nate you aren't 15 are you? You are a tall 15 year old. Plus I am a short 27 year old. Nah, you aren't really 15 are you?

And yes, it scares them to hear you say that.

[Art Eatman]

Delayed Reaction, first go back and read my earlier post about drownings...

CDC data for a late 1990s year: Of some 32,000 deaths where handguns were involved, roughly half were suicide. The total also included justifiable homicides as well as murder/manslaughter.

That same year had some 50,000 homicides, so handguns were involved in roughly one-third. Long-gun homicides were around 3,000. Over half of all homicides involve knives, clubs, fists and feet...

[foghornl]

Children's Defense Fund ? ? ?

Ok, so when are they gonna start buying all the AK's, SKS's, 1911's and stuff FOR THE CHILDREN ? ? ?

hey CDF, I laugh at your face, with contempt. HA!

[sturmruger]

Everyones favorite line "but it's for the children"

[c_yeager]

Man I really feel for the children. They are just skipping through life innocently unaware of all the million ways that death is conspiring to capture them. Being a kid today must be like dodging razor blades every day of your life. :rolleyes:

[Cool Hand Luke 22:36]

.

[ralphie98]

“Since 1979, nearly 96,000 children and teenagers have died on the killing fields of America

HOLY $#&!, we have killing fields here? who knew?!?! :what: here in the upper midwest, we mostly have corn fields. The killing fields must be out in Kali or something.

[Master Blaster]

In the decade preceding the ban's passage in 1994, the number of children and teens who died from gunfire increased each year. During the ban, the number of deaths of children and teens decreased steadily. In 2002, the annual toll in those age groups was 50 percent lower than in 1994.

Which proves nothing relating to assault weapons, since durring the ban the number of military style semi auto rifles in civilian hands doubled. Unless of course all of these kids were beaten to death with bayonette lugs and flash hiders.

:confused:

[hso]

Here's the data table that they base their argument on. Note that of the 2,911 death for "children" under 20 years of age 2,497 were older than 14 (85.8%) and 6% were less than 10. Pitty they don't break it down for 18-19 year olds. :banghead:

http://www.childrensdefense.org/education/gunviolence/gunreport2005/tables/FARACE_detail01.xls

[spacemanspiff]

Childrens Defense Fund, huh?

well i'm a member of the Tactical Childrens Defense Fire Team.


their data is suspect. 2nd leading cause of death? yeah right.

[Waitone]

I just can't help myself. Whenever some says, "Do it for the children" the needle on my BS meter slams against the peg. Does the CDC list the number of kids drowned in 5 gal plastic buckets??????

[CAPTAIN MIKE]

The so-called Children's Defense Fund (cool marketing name) puts out statistics trying to make the following logical 'connection' in the mind of the public at large:

1. Teens and Children killed by firearms is a bad thing.
2. There would be less children killed by firearms if there were less firearms.
3. Therefore, guns are evil and should be banned.

Now that the same logic -- better yet, take the same statistical categories and show:

1. The number of Teens and Children killed by Automobiles.
2. The number of Automobile Accidents caused by Negligent Drivers and by Drunk Drivers.
3. Therefore, automotive vehicles are evil and should be banned.

Everytime I use this same analogy with anti-gunners, they have a very hard time responding to the logic of it. Usually, the response I get is something along this line: "But wait a minute, Mike. Not ALL drivers are negligent and not ALL drivers are drunk." I then respond - "Thank you. You just proved my point. Not all firearm owners are negligent, and not all firearm owners are criminals."

[Strings]

Mike: the response I usually get is "but you HAVE to drive to make a living". I've disabused a few of that notion. Although, in our modern society, it gets hard to argue that a car isn't essential...