August 8, 2000

By GORDON DILLOW
The Orange
County Register
(republished with permission by author)

The California Legislature is currently debating a bill that would require handgun owners to be licensed by the state. And amid the debate over Assembly Bill 273, you can be sure there will be claims that burdening law-abiding gun owners with more regulations is necessary to "protect our children" from gun violence.

But if you look at the statistics in Orange County, it's pretty clear that there's something else out there that poses a far greater danger to kids than guns do.

It's called water.

So far this year, 18 people have drowned in Orange County - 10 in swimming pools, eight in the ocean. Some of the deaths were the result of plain bad luck, while others, it must be said, were caused by the victim's own poor decisions: ignoring riptide warnings, jumping into a pool without knowing how to swim and so on.

But the really tragic part is that four of the people who drowned in Orange County this year were children 6 years old or younger, all of whom lost their lives in swimming pools.

Now let's take a look at the number of gun-related deaths in Orange County.

According to the Orange County Coroner's Office, so far this year there have been exactly zero accidental deaths involving firearms in the county. That's right, zero. Out of millions of people and hundreds of thousands of gun owners in the county, not one person of any age has been accidentally killed by a firearm.

And even when you look at gun-related homicides, it's still clear that in Orange County water is at least as deadly as guns - and even more deadly for young children.

According to the coroner's office, so far this year there have been 17 confirmed homicides in the county that involved firearms - one less than the number of drownings. And of those firearm deaths, how many were children under 6?

Again, the answer is none. In fact, only three gun-homicide victims in Orange County so far this year were 18 or under, with the youngest being 16 - and he was allegedly shot by an ex-con who was already violating a host of gun-control laws by having a firearm in his possession.

As for suicides involving young people and firearms, so far in Orange County this year there have been two - one a 14-year-old, one a 17-year-old. It's a terrible thing, to be sure, but still a much-lower death toll than from drownings.

Now, I know that some people will say I'm mixing apples and oranges here - and maybe in some ways that's true. Others will say that I'm using the dead bodies of young drowning victims to make a political point - which in a sense I am, and which I regret.

But facts are facts. And the fact is that, while guns are dangerous when they're misused, so are swimming pools and trips to the beach. But how many people would want to have to get a license from the state to take their kids swimming?

So yes, we should be careful with our guns. We should use and store them responsibly. If we own guns and there are kids around, we should take extra steps to ensure that the kids won't get hurt.

But people who really care about saving young lives should do the same with their water.

And they shouldn't need a license to do it.