THE "12 kids" FICTION/FANTASY
CNN Says MMMer's Lie?

by James L. Hall

I have been trying for some time to get the real numbers of juveniles (read "children") killed by guns everyday. The number you see constantly repeated like a mantra by the Million Mom's March now is 12 kids killed every day in America. 

I finally found the correct numbers, and in all places, two stories by CNN reporters. I am attaching the text of these two stories and an excerpt from the Million Mom's WEB site.

From Million Mom March website:

Sensible gun laws, safe kids, Backgrounder

Every day, 12 children die from gunshot wounds. Each day there is no action on this issue, we lose 12 more children. It is the horror of events like Columbine that grab the news headlines, but these daily deaths are even more commonplace than a dramatic school shooting-they are happening in everyone's backyard. 

These children are crime victims; wrong place, wrong time victims; unlocked-and-loaded-in-the-house victims; neighbor accidentally killing neighbor; and suicides...all with one major factor in common: death. Lives are destroyed because a gun fell into the wrong hands. 

The truth, and look who's telling it (CNN). From Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (CNN) May 15, 2000

As in the rest of the nation, violent crime has been falling in D.C., but the problem of gun violence remains. 

"Even though crime is going down throughout our city and even though this is a rare event on a property like the National Zoo, the fact of the matter is youth violence in our city is way too high," said D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams. 

This is, however, a problem on a national scale. According to the FBI, 1,741 young people aged 17 and younger were killed by guns between 1997 and 1998.

This equals 4.7 per day, not 12.  Here's another one:

DOJ study links juvenile homicide rate to gun access laws

March 7, 2000 Web posted at: 12:10 p.m. EST (1710 GMT)

From staff reports.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Easier access to firearms contributed to a huge rise in the number of U.S. homicides and suicides among juveniles from 1987 to 1993, according to a new Justice Department study released by the White House. 

The report, released Tuesday, said the rate of juvenile homicide increased 65 percent from 1987 to 1993. In 1993 alone, nearly 1,800 juveniles died in firearms-related homicide, the highest number on record. 

Note: 1800/365 = 4.9 per day, the HIGHEST NUMBER ON RECORD. More...

But during the following years, from 1993 to 1997, the number of juvenile homicides and suicides dropped, according to the study, which credited the decline in part on tighter laws regulating access to firearms. 

Even so, during that same period, more than half of all juvenile homicides involved a firearm. And in 1997, slightly fewer than 1,200 juveniles died in firearms-related homicides, the study said. 

"The recent decline in firearm-related juvenile homicides and suicides is encouraging and reinforces the need to remain vigilant in keeping handguns and other weapons out of the hands of children," said Shay Bilchik, administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 

The study also said that from 1987 to 1997, homicides among juveniles age 15 to 17 were more likely to involve a firearm than were homicides of adults. 

Between 1980 to 1997, three out of four homicides involving juveniles age 12 or older were committed with a firearm, the report said. Also during this period, male juveniles were twice as likely as females to die as a result of gun homicide, according to the report. 

The study analyzed FBI homicide data from 1980 to 1997 to assess the role of firearms in juvenile violence. The Clinton administration used the data to reinforce its message that Congress should pass more gun control laws in an attempt to reduce firearms-related violence. 

White House Correspondent Major Garrett contributed to this report.

The text of a note I sent to CNN:

Thank you for reporting the truth on juvenile gun-deaths. Every time I turn on the news, the Million Moms are pounding out this number of 12 kids killed per day in the United States. Thanks to your excellent reporters, Pierre Thomas and Major Garrett I now know the truth, at the worst period in our countries history, 1993, less than 1,800 juveniles were killed by guns.  That's only equal to 4.9. That 4.9 too many, but it's not some made up ridiculous number like the Million Mom's have been using.

For more on the 12 kids a day lie: