[Vision2020] Saving Children From Guns

Sat Mar 23 12:13:56 PDT 2013

I'm replying to this again, because I took a look at the source numbers 
for all these "gun deaths since Sandy Hook" articles.  The data comes 
from a project at slate.com that tracks the number of gun deaths via the 
twitter feed @GunDeaths.  This is a crowd-sourcing initiative to tweet 
all local gun deaths so that the data can be personalized.

I think this is a great idea, although I'm not sure why it matters that 
they started it right after the Sandy Hook shootings.  Do they think 
that this one event somehow is going to affect the numbers on gun 
accidents, suicides, or most homicides?  It's never a bad idea to look 
at the data more closely, though, and if enough people participate then 
it may actually become as reliable as the CDC data, which comes from 
death certificates.  In the future, it has the potential to find any 
lurking problems with the CDC data that they may not know about.  I 
wonder if we could get the CDC to give the public a sanitized database 
of this information, with all personally-identifiable data removed.

According to the data, as of a few minutes ago, there were 2883 gun 
deaths in the U.S. since Sandy Hook.  Sandy Hook happened, by my 
calculations, 99 days ago (17 + 31 + 28 + 23).  That's a gun death rate 
of 29.1 / day.  Looking at the statistics from the CDC for 2010, there 
were a total of 31672 deaths over a 365 day period, which comes out to 
88.8 gun deaths / day.  So either the number of gun deaths have dropped 
by around 2/3rds, or they happen in a non-linear manner, or the data at 
the slate project is incomplete (which is far more likely).  I'll be 
interested to see how this project goes, and whether or not the numbers 
fall in line with those of the CDC over time.  I'm also interested in 
the 2011 data, once the CDC completes their analysis of the data.

Paul

On 03/23/2013 10:23 AM, Tom Hansen wrote:
> Pick a source, Mr. Rumelhart.  ANY source.  They are all reporting gun 
> deaths in excess of 2,000 since Newtown.
>
> https://www.google.com/search?q=gun+deaths+since+sandy+hook&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari#q=gun+deaths+since+sandy+hook&hl=en&client=safari&ei=a-RNUeDmNYHeiALVoIGQDQ&start=20&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.&bvm=bv.44158598,d.cGE&fp=c1cc9d4856fbbb93&biw=1024&bih=644
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .
>
> "Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
> http://www.MoscowCares.com
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "There's room at the top they are telling you still
> But first you must learn how to smile as you kill
> If you want to be like the folks on the hill."
>
> - John Lennon
>
> On Mar 23, 2013, at 9:46 AM, Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com 
> <mailto:godshatter at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>>
>> Gun safety is, perhaps, a place where a lot of people on this list 
>> could potentially agree on this debate (at least to some degree).  I 
>> think using RFID chips to enable guns to fire is just asking for a 
>> mis-fire or non-fire of the gun just when you need it most, though.  
>> If we want to child-proof anything, I'd suggest child-proofing gun 
>> cases. I'd like to find some incentive to ensure that people are 
>> storing their guns properly, but the only things I can think of that 
>> would help is more safety training and laws that affect the gun owner 
>> if a death occurs as a result of a firearm discharging accidentally.  
>> I'm open to suggestions.
>>
>> I took a quick look at the statistics for gun accidents, since the 
>> article only describes them as having "new examples almost every 
>> day".  According to the CDC, in 2010 (under "Nontransport 
>> accidents"), "Accidental discharge of firearms" accounted for 606 
>> deaths.  I haven't found a breakdown by child/adult, but I'll keep 
>> looking.  The only other age-related statistic I have found so far is 
>> that there were 0 infant mortality deaths due to gun accidents.
>>
>> In case you're curious, here is the number of deaths for each 
>> non-transport accident type, from the "2010 Mortality Multiple Cause 
>> Micro Data Files" PDF 
>> (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/deaths_2010_release.pdf):
>>
>> Falls 26,009
>> Accidental discharge of firearms     606
>> Accidental drowning                3,782
>> Accidental exposure to fire        2,782
>> Accidental poisoning              33,041
>> Other unspecified                 16,678
>> Total                             82,898
>>
>> Firearm accidents are the smallest number in that list, but that 
>> doesn't mean we couldn't do more to reduce that number.  What I'd 
>> like to know is why accidental poisoning is so high.  More than 54 
>> times as many deaths by accidental poisoning as by accidental 
>> discharge of firearms.  Looking into it, I see it consists mainly of 
>> drug causes (91%), including prescription pain killers, cocaine, and 
>> heroin at the top of the list.
>>
>> Paul
>>
>>
>> On 03/23/2013 05:36 AM, Art Deco wrote:
>>> The New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> March 22, 2013
>>>
>>>
>>>   Saving Children From Guns
>>>
>>>
>>>             By JOE NOCERA
>>>
>>> For nearly two months, my assistant, Jennifer Mascia 
>>> <http://www.jennifermascia.com/>, and I have been publishing a daily 
>>> blog <http://nocera.blogs.nytimes.com/category/gun-report/> in which 
>>> we aggregate articles about shootings from the previous day. Of all 
>>> the stories we link to, the ones I find hardest to read are those 
>>> about young children who accidentally shoot themselves or another 
>>> child. They just break my heart. Yet Jennifer and I find new 
>>> examples almost every day 
>>> <https://www.google.com/search?q=child+shoots&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=child+shoots&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=xgX&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&psj=1&ei=m-xMUYWkAdSp4AOFzYDYCg&ved=0CA0Q_AUoBA&fp=1&biw=1730&bih=774&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&cad=b&sei=KPZMUeOdKafE4APM9IHgCw>. 
>>>
>>>
>>> Partly, I react by thinking, “How can anyone be so stupid as to 
>>> leave a loaded gun within reach of a small child?” But I also have 
>>> another reaction. In 1970, Congress passed a law that resulted in 
>>> childproofing medicine bottles. The Consumer Product Safety 
>>> Commission regulates the paint used in children’s toys. State laws 
>>> mandate that young children be required to use car seats.
>>>
>>> So why can’t we childproof guns? In an age of technological wizardry 
>>> — not to mention a time of deep sensitivity to the welfare of 
>>> children — why can’t we come up with a technology that would keep a 
>>> gun from going off when it is being held by a child? Or, for that 
>>> matter, by a thief using a stolen gun? Or an angry teenager who is 
>>> plotting to use his parents’ arsenal to wreak havoc in a mall?
>>>
>>> It turns out — why is this not a surprise? — that such technologies 
>>> already exist. A German company, Armartix, will soon be marketing a 
>>> pistol that uses radio frequencies 
>>> <http://www.gizmag.com/armatrix-wristwatch-safety-system-for-handguns/14044/> 
>>> that prevent a gun from being used by anyone except its owner. At 
>>> the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the senior vice president 
>>> for research and development, Donald Sebastian, has long spearheaded 
>>> an effort to develop biometrics for “gun personalization,” as it’s 
>>> called. Guns employing this technology fire only when they recognize 
>>> the hand of the owner. There are others who have invented similar 
>>> technologies.
>>>
>>> Why aren’t these lifesaving technologies 
>>> <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-shuster/smart-gun-technology_b_2324978.html> 
>>> in widespread use? No surprise here, either: The usual irrational 
>>> opposition from the National Rifle Association and gun absolutists, 
>>> who claim, absurdly, that a gun that only can be fired by its owner 
>>> somehow violates the Second Amendment. Pro-gun bloggers were furious 
>>> when they saw James Bond, in “Skyfall,” proudly showing off his new 
>>> biometrically protected weapon 
>>> <http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/11/skyfall_someone_should_make_james_bond_s_biometric_walther_ppk_s_gun.html>. 
>>> They were convinced it was a Hollywood plot to undermine their rights.
>>>
>>> Yet there is reason for at least some hope that the day when these 
>>> technologies are in widespread use will soon be here. Last week, 
>>> there were two important meetings about gun personalization 
>>> technology. On March 13, in Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder 
>>> Jr. met with several dozen advocates, including Sebastian and 
>>> Stephen Teret, the co-director of the Center for Law and the Public 
>>> Health at Johns Hopkins University. The purpose of the meeting was 
>>> to get Holder up to speed on the technologies so he could make 
>>> recommendations to President Obama.
>>>
>>> The following day, in San Francisco, Sandy Hook Promise 
>>> <http://www.sandyhookpromise.org/>, an organization founded by 
>>> citizens of Newtown, Conn., publicly launched 
>>> <http://newtownbee.com/news/news/0001/11/30/sandy-hook-promise-launches-innovation-initiative/10397> 
>>> its “innovation initiative” in collaboration with some Silicon 
>>> Valley venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. One of the leaders in 
>>> the effort is the venture capitalist Ron Conway, who coincidentally 
>>> threw a Christmas party on the day of the Newtown massacre. 
>>> Gabrielle Giffords was among those who attended. Like so many 
>>> others, Conway decided he had to do something about guns after Newtown.
>>>
>>> The innovation initiative, which will make grants, and even award 
>>> prize money for good ideas, includes an emphasis on gun 
>>> personalization technology. A member of the group, Alan Boinus 
>>> <http://www.lagunabeachindependent.com/2012/07/26/guest-column-mirror-america/>, 
>>> who applied for a patent on a biometric technology back in 1994, has 
>>> founded a company, Allied Biometrics, that is devoted to 
>>> commercializing biometric gun technology. He has already begun a 
>>> collaboration with Sebastian in New Jersey.
>>>
>>> In classic Silicon Valley fashion, Boinus told me that the 
>>> government has been hopeless, and that innovation and the market 
>>> itself would solve the problem. “The market will prove this out,” he 
>>> said. “People want to be responsible. People want safety.”
>>>
>>> I agree with him that Congress has been hopeless and then some, 
>>> unable to even work up the courage 
>>> <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/03/19/feinstein-assault-weapons-ban-reid-senate-bill/2000119/> 
>>> to vote on an assault weapons ban for fear of offending gun owners. 
>>> But I’m not convinced that the market alone can create mass 
>>> acceptance of this technology. It took years, after all, for 
>>> Congress to overcome the car industry’s resistance to air bags, 
>>> ultimately requiring a law that made air bags mandatory.
>>>
>>> Thousands of lives 
>>> <http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2012/12/gun_death_tally_every_american_gun_death_since_newtown_sandy_hook_shooting.html> 
>>> could be saved each year if gun personalization technology became 
>>> the law of the land. In mid-April, Representative John Tierney, a 
>>> Massachusetts Democrat, plans to introduce a House bill requiring 
>>> that all guns include personalization technology within two years.
>>>
>>> Congress once cared enough about the safety of its citizens to pass 
>>> laws about air bags and childproof bottles. We’ll soon find out if 
>>> it still cares enough about the safety of its constituents to make 
>>> childproofing guns the law of the land. It should.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
>>> art.deco.studios at gmail.com <mailto:art.deco.studios at gmail.com>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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