'Don't Put a Handgun Under the Christmas Tree this year' (BARF!)

PRNewswire ^ | 12/11/01 | Citizens for a Safer Minnesota

[BCR #226]

Attention Holiday Shoppers: 'Don't Put a Handgun Under the Christmas Tree This Year'

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens for a Safer Minnesota (CSM), a gun violence prevention group, warned holiday shoppers not to put a handgun under the Christmas tree this year. CSM noted that handguns can pose health risks due to inherent defects in their design and fabrication. Additionally, most handguns lack safety devices like trigger locks and load indicators that would reduce the number of accidental injuries and deaths caused by the unintentional firing of guns.

Currently there are no health and safety regulations for handguns. Ironically, teddy bears and toy guns are subject to federal consumer product safety standards and are subject to recall.

"When holiday shoppers purchase virtually any product, they can be assured that their gift has been reviewed by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, unless shoppers are buying a gun," said Rebecca Thoman, Executive Director of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota. "When we regulate teddy bears and toy guns more than we regulate a handgun, something is wrong."

Teddy bears are regulated under four criteria: choking (ex. eyes popping out posing risk to children), flammability, sharp edges, and sharp points. Toy guns and other children's toys have similar regulations. In 1997 teddy bears killed no one in the United States, but gun violence took 32,436 lives in 1997 alone.

CSM's Midwest Coalition to End Gun Violence partners, Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence and the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence joined together to educate the public that guns are not regulated as consumer products.

"Two-thirds of Twin City residents and nearly 80% of greater Minnesota residents mistakenly believe that guns are regulated by federal safety standards. It's our job to correct that myth," stated Thoman, referring to a survey recently conducted for Citizens for a Safer Minnesota.

"I think people assume that guns are regulated as consumer products because everything else they buy is regulated. They say, so why aren't guns in the list as well," said Catherine Griffiths, Midwest Regional Director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.

According to a recent survey, Minnesota residents overwhelmingly support government safety regulations for the design of guns. 75% of Twin City metro residents and 66% of greater Minnesota residents support regulating guns as consumer products.

The Midwest Coalition displayed an array of consumer regulated products including an artificial wreath, Christmas lights, a toaster, a coffee maker, and a remote controlled toy Santa that carried a sign asking why teddy bears are regulated, but guns are not. CSM wants to know the same thing.

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SOURCE Citizens for a Safer Minnesota

CO: Citizens for a Safer Minnesota

ST: Minnesota

IN:

SU:

12/11/2001 11:30 EST http://www.prnewswire.com

[John R. (Bob) Locke]

You are correct, of course.

Statistically speaking, the occurences of actual "accidental firings" are so minimal that they are effectively zero. That is the point I was trying to make. (But I suspect you already knew that, since you basically agreed with my point.)

[John R. (Bob) Locke]

But I'm live in Southern Connecticut and was born in Southern new Hampshire.

A HA!

You are one of them Damn Yankees! ;o)

Be safe and well, amigo!

[fivetoes]

Be careful when you open your presents this year. There may be a evil gun inside the pretty wrapping

[fivetoes]

If Santa brings firearms as gifts does he need to do a background check for each one?

[fivetoes]

Give the Gift of Love

Let her know how much you love her, by giving her the means to protect herself against muggers and rapists.
Don't forget lessons.

[harpseal]

You obviously did not notice the Southern in both of those comments. Historically Franklin Pierce the sole President of the United States of America from the Granite State was much loved in what later became the Confederacy. I am a Southerner by desire and I can even claim a great grandfather who came to NH via Canada who was originally from County Mayo Ireland and emigrated to Wilmington Deleware where he made his living first fishing then captaining a steamer that plied the waters between Bermuda and that port. I inherited some of his papers. Following Appomatix he made his way to Canada and then re-entered the USA in the 1870's. He had lost his home and much else in the war.

Stay well - stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown