There's lies, damned lies, and statistics
For the 3 or 4 hundred moms that will be in DC, instead of celebrating their contributions to their families on Mother's Day:
Posted on 04/01/2004 11:27:44 AM PST by MegaSilver
DURHAM -- A group of moms presented some staggering statistics about gun violence and children in North Carolina and Durham at the old North Holloway Street school Wednesday afternoon.
Between 1999 and 2001, 131 children under the age of 17 died from gunshot wounds in North Carolina, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Durham County had the second-highest number of youth gun deaths of all N.C. counties and the highest per capita percentage of gun deaths in the state. Only Mecklenburg County reported more youth gun deaths.
Anna Lee Mosley, president of the West Triangle Chapter of the Million Mom March, said those statistics, and many others, are cause for alarm.
"The importance to me is to make a statement, to let Congress and the American people know that we have not gone away," Mosley said. "It's outrageous what's happening in Durham and in North Carolina and in the United States of America."
Members of the Million Mom March held the news conference Wednesday to announce this year's Mother's Day March to Halt the Assault in Washington, D.C., on May 9.
While there, Mosley said, members would lobby lawmakers on the Sept. 13 expiration of the Federal Assault Weapons Act, which former President Bill Clinton enacted in 1994 to ban semi-automatic assault weapons.
"If the assault weapons ban expires ... [children] will have access to even more firepower," Mosley said.
The National Rifle Association, however, asserts on its Web site that the debate about the assault weapons ban is "far too often driven and dominated by emotion."
The NRA argues that firearm purchases are not available to "felons, drug addicts, illegal aliens and fugitives from justice," the site states.
"And, of course, semi-automatic firearms, which have been around for more than a century, are used by millions of Americans for hunting, self-defense, recreational target shooting and in formal marksmanship competitions such as the Olympics," according to the site. The weapons fire only once each time the trigger is pulled and use the same ammunition as other legal guns, the NRA states.
But a study by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence indicates that assault weapons banned by name in the act decreased from nearly 5 percent of guns traced to crime prior to the ban to 1.6 percent after it was enacted.
"We seek to create a city, state and an America where all people are safe from gun violence, Mosley said.
Connie Padgett, a member of the West Triangle Chapter of the Million Mom March, who presented the medical examiner's statistics, said Durham County youth deaths in the period studied were greater than in Wake, Guilford and Forsyth counties combined.
And while 4 percent of total firearm deaths in North Carolina were children, Durham County experienced 11.1 percent, Padgett said.
"I've held in my hands a list of the dead from gun violence in North Carolina, page after page of names," she said. "I come from that experience knowing we cannot continue doing what we've done in the past. Something must change to end the cycle of gun violence."
Yeah, they're just using different guns, idiot.
go straight to hell mosley. better yet, go to england. they're waiting for you. and they are as safe from gun violence as your lies will take you.
Not necessarily even that. The police are tracing different guns.
I guess we can all go to Eastland mall in Charlotte and see the beginnings of their problems.....with and without guns....One of Charlotte's finest malls has been taken over by the "boyz". I give the mall maybe 2 more years before Dillards and the other high end stores leave because of gang fights and just obnoxious "kids".
Swell, but... that would mean more legal gun ownership by the citizenry, not less. No matter how badly the Gun Nazis mangle statistics, they've never been able to doctor the numbers that prove that when gun ownership goes down, violent crime goes up.
There's lies, damned lies, and statistics
For the 3 or 4 hundred moms that will be in DC, instead of celebrating their contributions to their families on Mother's Day:
Desperately struggling to maintain public relevance.
Neither have I or about 100 million of my closest friends.
FMCDH
Guns are dangerous, so I need you to send me that Mini-14.
It is for the children you know!!!
I agree! Dead guns are a tragic waste of firepower!
Well, considering their hero is a genital liar, I'd would say at least they are consistant.
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