Posted on 06/25/2002 11:30:52 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
Edited on 05/07/2004 7:08:54 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Byron Hestervold writes letters and makes phone calls to lawmakers, prosecutors and pediatricians, urging them to mandate that safety literature be handed out with every firearm or ammunition sale.
Common Sense about Kids and Guns distributes fliers with safety tips for parents who keep guns in their homes.
(Excerpt) Read more at detnews.com ...
All Guns are loaded All The Time!!
Never let your muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy!
Keep your $%#@$*@ finger away from the trigger!!!
Woah, now that's simple - then teach in every school how to properly clear a semi-auto, revolver, lever and bolt action and we've got a plan!!!
Stay Safe !
...delivered directly to the recycling center. (Why take the scenic route to the same end?)
What, then, are those stupid little blue pamphlets I've been getting with every handgun I've bought over the last two or three years? The sales clerk says something about being required to give a gun safety pamphlet. I've thrown them all out because they're clearly too long to communicate that (1) all guns are always loaded, (2) don't point the muzzle at anything you're not willing to destroy, and (3) finger out of the trigger until firing. Heck, those could be engraved in the gun, I don't need no steenkin' pamphlet.
Is "up to age 19" a way of making it soond like they are talking about minors, when they are really including 19-year-olds?
And why are we including high-school age kids who know better as "children"? If we limit the range to those 14 and under (eliminating the gang-bangers), we get 89 accidents, 274 homicides, and 103 suicides. That alarming 2385 is really more like 466, a factor of four distortion. http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus.html
That's "about" (BWAHAHAHAHA!) 5,478.75 youths per year (15 x 365.25) - I wonder how many are "accidental", how many are "homicides" and how many are "suicides"? Also, I doubt the accuracy of this number - "3 or 4" is "about 15", right?
No matter, this is merely more gun grabber histrionic hysteria!
Far more "youths" die in automotive-related incidents than in anything involving firearms, and you don't see this poor, misguided soul taking up the MADD banner, which would make FAR more sense than the hitorically proven BS of disarming a populace!
Stay vigilant and stay armed!
This sounds like the program in Mass where a 72 year old reprobate managed to impregnate a 11 year old. Nice work Hestevold.
"I promised the family then that I would try to do something to raise public awareness," he said. "Just the number of suicides by firearms is astronomical. If they hadn't been accessible ... how many lives might have been saved?"
... how many lives might have been saved? Maybe none. If a gun hadn't been available they could have used a rope, razor blades, drano, leap from a tall object, jump in front of a car, drugs, etc.
About 15 youths nationally die each day in accidental shootings, homicides and suicides.
The usual MMM lie. But wait, what's this...
Marchione noted that nationally there were 3,385 firearm deaths of youths up to the age of 19 years old in 1999 -- 117 of them in Michigan. At least 221 of the total deaths were accidental; the others were homicides, suicides or undetermined.
Let's do a little math, 3,385/365 days equals 9.27 a day. Not quite 15. But wait, here's this cool sidebar that says...
* U.S.: 2,385 deaths (1,190 homicides, 1,078 suicides, 214 accidents, 103 undetermined).
That's equal to 2385/365 or 6.5 a day. Math may not be this do-gooders strong point, but what about the reporter. Aren't reporters supposed to do some basic fact checking?
Once the gangbangers, suiciders, druggies and the 15 to 19 year olds are filtered out, it appears like there is no problem at all. Hmmmm
Cute article about Hestevold, I'm sure he means well, even if his facts are twisted.
But, what about you Mike? What's your agenda? Shouldn't a reporter do a little fact checking?
Did it not strike you as odd, that in your one article there are three different figures for the number of 'youths' killed by firearms each day?
Hestevold gives the oft repeated MMM lie of 15 a day.
Paul Marchione, a Common Sense spokesman reduces that number to 9.27 a day.
And then the numbers in your sidebar reduce it even further to 2385/365 or 6.5 a day. And remember that these numbers reflect the youth to the age of 19, hardly children.
The reality is that more children (under 14) are killed by pool drownings than gun shots.
Mike, I suspect that you are either very biased or extremely lazy.
TC Rider
Apex, NC
Mike you are either very biased or extremely lazy.
TC Rider
Apex, NC
LOL!! How the heck do prosecutors and pediatricians "mandate" anything? Idiot.
Warning: firearms are dangerous. Read all instructions before use."
... and somewhere, the Liberal who forced the gunmaker to engrave this idiocy is having an orgasm...
Uhhhh, there IS safety lit distributed when you buy a gun already.
Hestevold also said that gun owners should be educated -- with the help of state or federal legislation -- of the responsibilities that accompany having weapons their homes.
There SHOULD be education...the NRA provides it. As for the state or feds, WHY? What would yet one more stupid law do? And we HAVE THAT in Michigan.
He added, "The cost of implementing mandatory safety handouts would probably be less than what it would cost to treat one child's serious firearm injury."
The cost is not necessary since INFORMATION IS ALREADY GIVEN BY THE MANUFACTURERS with each sale. Also, in Michigan, for pistols, everyone gets a guide from the state when you pick up that damn purchase permit from the sheriff's office.
. "I promised the family then that I would try to do something to raise public awareness," he said. "Just the number of suicides by firearms is astronomical. If they hadn't been accessible ... how many lives might have been saved?"
How can you keep a gun from a 17 year old near adult?? Suicides are tragic, but it's not the gun. I have a friend that hung himself.
If Byron wants to help gun safety, he should contact the NRA and become a firearm instructor.
Lastly, enjoy the ASS KICKING that Milford football will get once again from Brighton. Thank you.
Not to mention the Purchase permit info from the state with some dumbassed test......
Some people are shown to be uneducable. If you can't figure out how to keep your gun secure, you're not smart enough to read a federal pamphlet telling you how to do it.
These are the same people who go around in a perpetual fog about everything else, too. They're a menace behind the wheel, they're negligent in storing household chemicals, and they expect the world to watch out for them because of their don't-give-a-damn attitude.
I work with a woman who's a political liberal, and is a firm believer in doing good things for the "less fortunate". She belonged to a group that would distribute smoke detectors to poor households in Detroit. She quit after one day. She said you couldn't just hand a smoke detector to someone and go on the the next house. You had to install the smoke detector. Then you were expected to come back in a year, and change the batteries.
People like that, who don't give a damn about something as no-brainer as a smoke detector, won't do anything about securing that gun that's sitting on top of the TV. And no federally-mandated program will change them.
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