VPC - Nearly One Third of Kids Murdered With Handguns Are Shot And Killed by Other Kids

VPC - Automatic Puke Alert ^ | 11-28-01 | Naomi Seligman

[Dan from Michigan]

Nearly One Third of Kids Murdered With Handguns Are Shot And Killed by Other Kids, VPC Study Reveals

Washington, DC—Children and youth are murdered with handguns more often than with all other weapons combined, according to a new 27-page study released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC). Kids in the Line of Fire: Children, Handguns, and Homicide is a first-time analysis of handgun murders of children up to age 17. The study analyzes unpublished Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) homicide data for the five-year period 1995 through 1999—the most recent data available. During this period, nearly a third (32.1 percent) of child handgun homicide victims were murdered by another child. Other findings include: an average of two children per day were murdered with handguns in the U.S. from 1995 to 1999; and, that black children had the highest rate of handgun homicide victimization—seven times higher than that of white children.

"Although a tragedy in New Bedford, Massachusetts, was apparently averted this week, two kids are murdered with handguns every day in our country," states Karen Brock, VPC health policy analyst and study author. "Children can't legally buy handguns, children can't legally possess handguns—yet they are killing each other with handguns. The reason: children still have easy access to handguns because of the lax practices of an unregulated gun industry and the mistaken idea that a handgun in the home offers protection, when in reality it is far more likely to result in horrific consequences."

Kids in the Line of Fire contains both national and state statistics. It ranks states by both rate of child victims murdered by a handgun, as well as rate of child shooters who murdered with a handgun. The report also ranks states by the percentage of child homicides in which a handgun was used. Additional data for the top 15 states include: race of victim; type of firearm used; relationship of victim to offender; and, the circumstances of the homicide.

For the years 1995 through 1999, the overall national rate of child handgun homicide victims in the U.S. was 1.20 per 100,000. For that period, 11 states had child handgun homicide victim rates higher than the national average: Maryland (2.86 per 100,000); Louisiana (2.4 per 100,000); Illinois (2.24 per 100,000); California (2.19 per 100,000); Nevada (1.85 per 100,000); Arizona (1.69 per 100,000); Missouri (1.39 per 100,000); Tennessee (1.37 per 100,000); Alabama (1.28 per 100,000); Georgia (1.27 per 100,000); and, Oklahoma (1.23 per 100,000).

[George Smiley]

Calling the VPC experts on firearms issues is comparable to calling the Klan experts on race relations.

[Crustacean]

Or, even better, you can train and arm your kids so that they are in a better position to return fire.

[41Thunder]

"The study analyzes unpublished Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) homicide data for the five-year period 1995 through 1999"

Unpublished FBI data??? Bullshi*!!

[Lazamataz]

They don't like handguns. They don't like semiautomatic rifles. They hate bolt action rifles. .50 caliber is too big. .22 caliber is too small. They hate all the calibers in between. They don't like concealable pistols. They really hate big intimidating bulky pistols. They despise guns with detachable magazines. They want guns with integral magazines banned.

I'm starting to get the impression they have a Ban All Guns agenda, here....

[41Thunder]

"I'm starting to get the impression they have a Ban All Guns agenda, here...."

BINGO!!!

[technochick99]

My nephew's teenaged son was killed by another teenager in that teen's home.

How terrible... you have my most sincere sympathies. :( You can help protect your own families by being prudent about your own guns, but what can you do to protect them when they go to a friend's house?

Until we can ban idiots, there's nothing that can be done to make the world completely safe.

The only gun control I'm for is controlling the safety of your kids when they are out of your sight.

An admirable goal, but one that just doesn't work in the real world, I'm afraid. Life can be filled with the sh*ttiest of events. What happened to the shooter?

[glc1173@aol.com]

And what's a "child?" to VPC? Anyone old enough to legally drive or to legally join the Marines!

(I wonder how many of these "childs" were Marines when shot!)

Let's face reality here. Federal (Centers for Disease Control) and National Safety Council statistics both say that virtually nobody under age 15 - IOW, what most Americans think of as "childs" - are being fatally shot, homicidally, accidentally, or suicidally.

Scandals of antigun politicians and activists - with truth about VPC

[Joe Brower]

[archy]

[pointsal]

TIME TO REGULATE KIDS

[Drew68]

black children had the highest rate of handgun homicide victimization—seven times higher than that of white children.

The reason: children still have easy access to handguns because of the lax practices of an unregulated gun industry and the mistaken idea that a handgun in the home offers protection

I hate to be Politically Incorrect here, but it would appear with these two statements from the article that kids killing kids seems to be a black problem more than a gun problem.

[coloradan]

Children and youth are murdered with handguns more often than with all other weapons combined ...
Other findings include: an average of two children per day were murdered with handguns in the U.S. from 1995 to 1999.

If two children a day are killed with handguns, and the handgun rate is more than all other causes combined, then the total rate cannot be more than 4 kids a day. Whatever happened to 13 kids a day?

[coloradan]

Well, hypothetically it could be that white kids go over to black neighborhoods and blast away. But ... I doubt it. Why doesn't the study cite the racial breakdown of the perpetrators, instead of only the victims?

[tubebender]

My eyes glaze over when I read this stuff.(as in full of it stuff) Does it ever answer the question, 32% of what?

[AAABEST]

an average of two children per day were murdered with handguns

In 1997, the total number of children, ages 0-14 killed  by firearms (all causes) was 629 or 1.7 per day.
National Center for Health Statistics, 1997

This is from the NCH and includes all causes (accidental, murdered and otherwise) by all firearms (handguns, long-guns and otherwise).

In other words, the VPC are full of s**t and they're lying again.

Statistics courtesy of gunfacts.org

[butter pecan fan]

I am pinging butter pecan fan, since this is a similar subject earlier. He was of the mindset that these experts have something that needs to be addressed. I think many people around here would disagree, saying these particular experts are biased, and are writing pursuasive pieces, rather than scientific studies.

Thanks for ping.

I would say that, more accurately, I was of the mindset that I should investigate all claims, on both sides, to see which of them hold water and which don't.

I'm still of that mindset, but am currently about to go buggy with swimming in the sea of statistics and questions generated from my investigations.

"Children can't legally buy handguns, children can't legally possess handguns-yet they are killing each other with handguns. The reason: children still have easy access to handguns because of the lax practices of an unregulated gun industry and the mistaken idea that a handgun in the home offers protection, when in reality it is far more likely to result in horrific consequences."

Again, there are many misleading statements in this release.

Agreed.

And the only study (a somewhat weak one, but it's all we've got) to directly address some of the relevant questions indicates that, on average, kids who obtain firearms legally (generally from their parents) commit crime at a slightly lower rate than kids who don't "possess" a gun.

[butter pecan fan]

and, that black children had the highest rate of handgun homicide victimization—seven times higher than that of white children.

Young blacks seem to have, by far, the highest rates of both handgun homicide victimization and handgun homicide offense, about 10 times the rate for whites.

This is true both for males and females - putting black females into the same league as white males.

Just saw the stats on this earlier today.

[pray4liberty]

You can help protect your own families by being prudent about your own guns, but what can you do to protect them when they go to a friend's house?

Make sure they know the basic gun-safety rules. Enroll them in an NRA class. My kids go target shooting so much, guns have lost their fascination. Safe gun handling has become second nature for all of us.

Keeping our kids ignorant about basic gun safety is not doing them a service, instead, being uneducated is what leads to accidents.

While "education" is always stressed as a preventative measure in our liberal schools, it is very interesting that this is the one area that children are left purposely uneducated. Proposed gun-safety classes are fought tooth and nail in the local school districts.

[Marysecretary]

The boy who died knew about gun safety. The boy who killed him apparently did not. That's what I meant. Love, M