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Youth and Gun Violence
From: John Kupski <phantomkell@yahoo.com> Dear Mr. Riley,
I'm writing in response to your
paper's editorial of January 3rd, entitled, "America's youth and the tragedy
of gun violence."
It seems there is a new trend in
"journalism" these days: Taking press releases from groups with an
agenda, and turning them into editorials or even news stories, without even
checking the validity of the claims. Of course, this leads to "news"
that is so detached from reality that it would be laughable--if so many people
did not actually believe what they were reading.
Some examples of the flaws in your
editorial:
"Every 2 1/2 hours, a child dies from
gunfire." This is completely untrue. According
to CDC (you can obtain these figures yourself, using the search engine at http://webapp.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate.html
by simply selecting "firearms" as cause of death, and manner/intent
to "all" which includes suicide, intentional homicide, unintentional
homicide, etc.) 3,792 people under the age of 20 died in 1998 (the latest year
with available statistics) or roughly 10.3 daily. On it's face, this is in-line
with the "report" you turned into an editorial.
However, once you begin to dig deeper,
this rapidly falls to pieces--the numbers include people who are not even children!
As the definition of "child" can vary wildly from person to person,
let's simply equate the term child with someone who is legally a minor under
the law. When you remove 18 and 19 year olds from these "statistics,"
you cut the numbers almost in HALF, to 1,971--still an abominable figure, but
nowhere near the claims. Removing the 648 suicides (a determined suicide will
occur, without taking into account the instrument chosen) leaves us at 1323,
or about 3.5 "children" killed in homicides and accidents, daily,
over 60% lower than the "report" claim--and this number still includes
those shot by police, or killed in gang "turf" wars over drugs.
"The rate of firearm deaths
among children under 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than
in other industrialized countries."
The "study" that generated
this comment can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00046149.htm
and seems carefully designed to produce just this sound-bite--level of industrialization
has nothing to do with what countries are on this list, merely the 26 "richest"
countries are represented. Additionally, some of the data is suspect. Apparently,
Northern Ireland (which ranks third on this list) loses just over 0.5 children
per 100,000 to gun violence--and all of them to SUICIDE. While one would expect
suicide rates to be quite high in a perpetual war zone, one would also expect
intentional killings to be even higher. For the record, the study places firearms
deaths from ALL CAUSES at about 1.6 per 100,000 in the United States. In order
to obtain the "12 times higher" factoid, one must choose one of the
countries at the very bottom of the list, which seems to be completely contradictory
to the claim.
The results also do not track with
the "United Nations 1996 Demographic Yearbook" which does not break
down deaths by AGE, but DOES report on total deaths, broken down by suicide
and homicide. Twenty-three nations, Armenia, Bahamas, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico,
Moldova, Paraguay, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Russia, Sao Tome, Tajikistan, Trinidad,
Ukraine, and Venezuela, admitted to higher homicide rates than the United States.
While all of them are not "industrialized countries," it is difficult
to ignore Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, Belarus, and Mexico.
Regarding suicide, the U.S. is in
the middle of the pack, with 35 of the 86 nations having higher rates (38 using
the most recent U.S. figure). Compared to the U.S. rate of 11.9, Russia has
a rate of 41.2, Hungary 32.9, Denmark 22.3, Switzerland 21.4, France 20.8, and
Japan 16.7.
Read the raw numbers for yourself
at "Political leaders need to
pass sensible gun legislation that will protect children. Parents, law enforcement
officials and gun manufacturers also have a responsibility to educate youngsters."
As you yourself suggest, the key
is education--something the national rifle association has been doing for over
a hundred years (while being demonized by the press for the last forty or so)
and wishes to continue doing--while gun control groups laugh at the very idea
of the so-called "gun lobby" having a hand in firearms safety education.
I ask you, who better than those who have a vested interest in firearms safety
as opposed to gun banning?
Additional laws will do nothing--murder
is already illegal. The Columbine Killers broke at least 18 laws before they
fired their first shot, while responsible adults inside the building found themselves
disarmed. By definition laws affect only the law abiding, and criminals will
continue to flaunt them, no matter what laws we pass.
Sir, my job is not to be a journalist,
but in the last thirty minutes, I have done more research into this issue than
the individual who wrote your editorial--or more likely, just copied a press
release and added a few notes. I submit to you that your paper has been used
(willingly, or unwillingly) to push an agenda. And you have let just a little
more of your credibility slip away.
I invite you to read Fox News' piece,
"The Op-Ed's hidden agenda" at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,42050,00.html
which may shed some light on the recent trend I've mentioned.
Sincerely,
John M. Kupski To Get Your Letters Printed Here |
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