BEARING ARMS Children and Guns: The Hidden Toll

Sunday NY Times Front Page ^ | 9-29-13 | MICHAEL LUO and MIKE McINTIRE

[Pharmboy]

The .45-caliber pistol that killed Lucas Heagren, 3, on Memorial Day last year at his Ohio home had been temporarily hidden under the couch by his father. But Lucas found it and shot himself through the right eye. “It’s bad,” his mother told the 911 dispatcher. “It’s really bad.”

A few days later in Georgia, Cassie Culpepper, 11, was riding in the back of a pickup with her 12-year-old brother and two other children. Her brother started playing with a pistol his father had lent him to scare coyotes. Believing he had removed all the bullets, he pointed the pistol at his sister and squeezed the trigger. It fired, and blood poured from Cassie’s mouth.

Snip

Cases like these are among the most gut-wrenching of gun deaths. Children shot accidentally — usually by other children — are collateral casualties of the accessibility of guns in America, their deaths all the more devastating for being eminently preventable.

snip

And there are far more of these innocent victims than official records show.

A New York Times review of hundreds of child firearm deaths found that accidental shootings occurred roughly twice as often as the records indicate, because of idiosyncrasies in how such deaths are classified by the authorities. The killings of Lucas, Cassie and Alex, for instance, were not recorded as accidents. Nor were more than half of the 259 accidental firearm deaths of children under age 15 identified by The Times in eight states where records were available.

As a result, scores of accidental killings are not reflected in the official statistics that have framed the debate over how to protect children from guns.

[Pharmboy]

Exactly correct.

[Vaquero]

yeah....understood.

I just hate that marxist rag so much, that, even though anything that comes out of it has a de facto ‘barf alert’, I personally feel it necessary to post it as such....or

post this in the #1 comment

[riverrunner]

I have very hard time believing any three year old could operate a .45 auto. very small hands. One wonders if the mother is covering up something else.

As for the 12 yoa shooting is sister I also wonder if it was quote an unintentional shooting.

[DaveA37]

Personally I think “Gun Safety” needs to be taught in EVERY SCHOOL in this country. I learned at the ripe old adge of 7 on how to respect, use and care for a gun. To this date, I remember every detail my father taught me.

Teach them “right” and kids will remember, do nothing and the “accidents” will continue.

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

With reasoning such as this article presents, we should also then ban:
backyard swimming pools
cars
matches
poisonous household cleaners

[Pharmboy]

...or at least make a big deal about safety issues regarding pools, cleaners, etc.

[verga]

Growing up my father kept a gun in the house. My sisters and I knew where it was and where the ammo was. The rule was simple, don’t touch the gun. When I got old enough I had one and it was kept in my closet with a box of ammo as well. Never had a problem.

[moovova]

His many children will die AFTER the socialists/Marxists/communists/jihadists have disarmed America?

[txrefugee]

More children drown every year than die in gun accidents. Subtract the teen gang bangers shooting each other in our ghettos, and the number is very small.
Hundreds of thousands of rural youth have used guns responsibly for generations and lived to ripe old ages. Children who are irresponsible will always be in danger of some kind.

[BlueStateRightist]

Articles like this exemplify the unbridled and take-no-prisoners power of the leftist media. The Slimes’ editors know this type of journalism is highly effective in moving the needle in favor of their agenda. By virtue of this article, low info voters, especially women, will be entrenched as anti-gun and, indirectly, pro-Obama. It takes rock solid opposition to combat this type of attack.

[NY.SS-Bar9]

My kids know if they touch a gun they have to CLEAN said gun.

Wonderful deterrent.

[DaveyB]

Abortion kills at a much higher rate than guns. Where is the concern for those children? ...

[2nd amendment mama]

Here it is formatted. A little easier to read.

United States
Child Mortality, 2007
	Number and Rate of Child Deaths, per 100,000 Population (2007)
	Total Child Population		Number of Child Deaths		Child Mortality Rate
	(Ages 0-19)
	82,304,668		53,287		64.7
	Infant Mortality Number and Rate, per 1,000 Live Births (2007)
	Number of Live Births		Number of Infant Deaths		Infant Mortality Rate
	(Ages 0-1)
	4,273,543		29,138		6.8
	Selected Causes of Death, Ages 0-19, per 100,000 Population (2007)
	Cause			Number of Deaths	Mortality Rate
	Natural			36,272	44.1
		Perinatal Conditions		14,570	17.7
		Congenital Anomalies		6,896	8.4
		Neoplasms		2,302	2.8
		Respiratory Disease		1,442	1.8
		Circulatory Disease		1,666	2.0
		Nervous System Disease		1,609	2.0
		SIDS		2,453	3.0
	Unintentional Injury			11,560	14.0
		Motor Vehicle		6,683	8.1
		Drowning		1,056	1.3
		Fire/Burn		544	0.7
		Poisoning		972	1.2
		Suffocation/Strangulation		1,263	1.5
		Firearm		138	0.2
	Homicide			3,345	4.1
		Firearm		2,186	2.7
	Suicide			1,665	2.0
		Firearm		683	0.8
		Suffocation/Strangulation		739	0.9
		Poisoning		133	0.2
	Source: National Center for Health Statistics
	Rates based on 20 or fewer deaths may be unstable.  Use with caution.

[VRW Conspirator]

The .45-caliber pistol that...temporarily hidden under the couch by his father. But Lucas found it...

So, the father made a bad judgment call, ergo, we need to take guns away from everybody.

[Falcon4.0]

" he pointed the pistol at his sister and squeezed the trigger."

Sadly, this is the only kind of gun handling children are exposed to.
"Point a gun at the nearest person and pull the trigger."
When the NRA wanted tried to establish the Eddie Eagle program in schools, where kids are taught to
"Stop. Don't Touch. Leave the Area and tell an Adult."
They were met with howls of protest.
Charles "The Snakeman" Schumer called it "A Cynical plot to turn kids into Shooters, who will grow up to be NRA Members and Voters for Gun Rights".

[2nd amendment mama]

I’d lay bets just about every one of thos accidental deaths involving children were in idiot lib GANG homes.

There......fixed it. LOL

[2nd amendment mama]

I had the same thoughts.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Yep...when my grand kids come for the weekend, I disassemble the shotgun, and all handguns are completely inaccessible to them."

Why?? Better to take them and the guns out to a spot where you can teach them real firearms safety. Even a four-year-old can learn the difference between a toy gun and a real gun if they experience the reality of both.

My dad "inoculated" both my brother and I at age four, by taking us out in the field, and letting "us" fire his .22 handgun (we and he held the gun, our hands on the stock, and his over ours, so perfectly safe, we pulled the trigger).

This was the norm throughout our rural community. Guns were not "disassembled" nor "completely inaccessible"...they were stacked in the nearest corner to the house main exit door (back door) at all times.....loaded. Neither my brother or I EVER touched them without permission, up 'til the time when we, too, were expected to grab and use them at need.

I can recall NO incidents of child gun accidents in that community....ever, although there were a very, very few hunting-related injuries.

"Why can’t others figure this out?"

Because there are ways that work better.

[Condor51]

A contributing factor to these accidental shootings of kids by kids is the lefts 'War On TOY (cap) Guns', aka 'The War On Boys Being BOYS' (don't need any stinking *study* by eggheads to 'prove' it, it's common sense).

When kids were allowed to be kids and play Cop & Robbers, Cowboy & Ind1ans and War, boys learned -- slowly with age and better more realistic 'toys' as we got older -- what guns they could do - BANG!..you're Dead. -- real dead, not play dead.

As such we knew what to do when or if encountering a Real Gun, like not f..king PLAY with it. That familiarity also took away any 'cool' or 'neat factor' and the urge to touch and handle it.

[BCW]

...and when I use a hammer to drive a nail into a 2x4 and smash my finger...it’s the hammer’s fault - not my inability and inexperience in carpentry that caused my finger to be smashed....

IDIOTS abound in the US NEWS and POLITICAL spheres...