FROM; NRA BBS Children's Defense Fund Exaggerations, misstatements, and other shortcomings abound in CDF's various claims against guns. The most egregious claims include: * "OVER 5,000 AMERICAN CHILDREN A YEAR" ARE KILLED WITH GUNS. Most people think of of "children" as pre-adolescents, people aged 0-14. The National Center for Health Statistics reports fatalities in 5-year age groups (0-4, 5-9, 10-14, with the 15-19 group including adolescents and young adults. To get the "5000" figure, CDF counts deaths among 15-17-year old adolescents and 18-19-yr. old adults along with those of true children aged 0-14, thereby elevating the number of deaths among "children" 70%. Many of the "children" whose deaths CDF counts are persons with prior juvenile and/or adult criminal histories, killed during the course of crime-related activity. Roughly 85% of the deaths claimed by CDF to be occurring among "children" involve adolescents and adults aged 15-19, and most such deaths result from deliberate acts, rather than accidents. Killers in that age group are subject to capital sentences, and public support is growing for prosecution of juveniles as adults, for the worst crimes. * "CHILDREN ACROSS THE COUNTRY ARE BEING PLAGUED BY A SERIOUS EPIDEMIC OF GUN VIOLENCE." Not true. Typical gun owners are married, live in a suburban, small-town or rural area, have a middle income and education, and their children are not threatened by any "epidemic" of firearm- related violence. What CDF calls an "epidemic" is concentrated among low-income, undereducated black and Hispanic teenagers in America's big cities, who are raised in 1-parent families, or who have no parental supervision at all, and who have no moral values. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, a div. of the U.S. Dept. of Justice -- "Boys who own legal firearms . . . have much lower rates of delinquency and drug use and are even slightly less delinquent than nonowners of guns. The socialization into gun ownership is also vastly different for legal and illegal gun owners. Those who own legal guns have fathers who own guns for sport and hunting. On the other hand, those who own illegal guns have friends who own illegal guns and are far more likely to be gang members. For legal gun owners, socialization appears to take place in the family. For illegal gunowners, it appears to take place on the street." (Urban Delinquency and Substance Abuse: Initial Findings Report," by the Denver Youth Survbey, Pittsburgh Youth Survey and Rochester Youth Development Study, for OJJDP, July, 1993) * "HOMICIDE IS THE 3RD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH AMONG ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDREN." This is misleading, because firearm-related homicide is the 4th leading cause, accounting for only 3.5% of deaths among that age group. All homicide (firearm or not) ranks "3rd place," and accounts for only 6% of deaths in that age group. Moreover, any comparison of firearm-related deaths, or homicides generally, to the big killers of children -- motor vehicle accidents and cancer -- is meaningless, since neither the causes nor solutions to this disparate group of problems are even remotely similar. The comparison is nothing more than a rhetorical device with no substance, and it clouds the issue rather than clarifying it. * OBSERVATION: CDF is calling for additional restrictions upon firearms ownership rights to stem the rise in firearm-related crimes committed by "children," mostly 15-19-year old black and Hispanic males living in big cities. But CDF is ignoring the fact that virtually everything involving children and firearms is already against the law. Since 1968, federal law has forbidden (retail) sales of handguns and their ammunition to anyone under the age of 21, and rifles and shotguns to anyone under the age of 18. The problem is not an abundance of firearms, or a lack of firearm laws, but a lack or morals and enforcement of existing laws against those who have no morals. Firearm-related violence among age groups legally allowed to purchase handguns has been stable or declining. It's ironic that CDF is staging a call for more restrictions on firearms now when, in addition to the massive number of laws already in place to prevent minors from acquiring firearms, the president just signed a supposed "crime bill" containing provisions outlawing most handgun possession by children anyplace in the country. Either CDF is unaware of all these long-standing and new laws, or it doesn't want to be bothered with the facts. * (ACCOMPANYING A PHOTO OF AN INFANT) "HUNDREDS OF CHILDREN ACCIDENTALLY SHOOT THEMSELVES OR SOMEONE ELSE." The ad/claim is misleading since firearm-related deaths among younger people are predominantly deliberate acts involving 15-19- year olds, not accidents involving infants. In 1991, the most recent year for which data have been reported, there were only 2 fatal firearm accidents among infants nationwide; about 5/1000 of 1% of infant deaths. Fatal firearms accidents among children and adolescents aged 0-14 have decreased 64% since 1975. (National Safety Council) Voluntary firearms safety training, not government intrusion, has caused firearms accidents to decline. Firearms accidents comprise 3% of fatal accidents among children and adolescents, compared to motor vehicle accidents (42%), drowning (15%), and fires (15%). (Nat'l Center for Health Statistics [NCHS]) General Accident Statistics Today, the fatal firearms accident rate is at an all-time low, down 85% since the all-time high recorded in 1904. The fatal firearms accident rate (0.5 per 100,000 pop.) pales in comparison to rates for motor vehicle accidents (15.8), home accidents (7.6), other public accidents (7.1), and work-related accidents (3.3). (National Safety Council) Since 1930, the number of annual fatal firearms accidents has decreased 56% while the number of privately owned guns has quadrupled and the U.S. population has doubled. (NSC; Bureau of the Census; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and firearms industry reports) The taxpayer-funded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim that registration and licensing of autos and drivers caused fatal motor vehicle accidents to decline between 1968-1991, and that registration and licensing of guns and gun owners would similarly reduce firearms accidents. However, between 1968-1991, the fatal firearms accident rate dropped 50%, the greatest decline among major accident types, while the fatal motor vehicle rate dropped the least, only 37%. The work-related accident rate dropped 49%, the home accident rate dropped 41%, and the public non-motor vehicle accident rate dropped 38% during the period. Additionally, vehicle registration and driver licensing were imposed before World War II, but fatal motor vehicle accident rates didn't begin to decline until 1970. (NSC) This is not surprising, since auto registration and driver licensing were imposed to generate revenues, not decrease accidents. Firearms accidents account for a fraction of unintentional fatalities, among all age groups, nationwide: (NCHS) 1. Motor Vehicles (48.7%) 2. Falls (14.2%) 3. Poisoning (7.2%) 4. Fires (4.6%) 5. Drowning (4.4%) 6. Suffocation (3.6%) (ingested object) 7. Medical (2.8%) 8. Environmental Factors (1.9%, est.) 9. Firearms (1.6%) * "IF YOU KEEP A GUN IN YOUR HOME, IT'S 18 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO KILL SOMEONE LIVING IN YOUR HOME THAN KILL AN INTRUDER." CDF is deceptively comparing the number of family members killed in firearm-related homicides in a single county (Kings County, Seattle-area) to the number of fatal shootings of complete strangers who invaded homes. Not all criminals who are fatally shot in self-defense are complete strangers; 99.9% of self-defense uses of firearms do not result in the killing of a criminal, stranger or not; criminals are generally scared off, wounded, etc., rather than killed, when confronted by an armed defender; not all family member shootings are murder, some are justifiable self- defense; and, firearms are often used for self-defense away from home. Downloaded from GUN-TALK (703-934-2121) A service of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action Fairfax, VA 22030