[Vision2020] Saving Children From Guns
Paul Rumelhart
godshatter at yahoo.com
Sat Mar 23 16:20:34 PDT 2013
Yes, I am aware that bad things do, in fact, happen in the world. I have
no idea what the Center for Disease Control considers an infant,
age-wise. I guess we'll find out in a few years when they have analyzed
the statistics for 2013. Not surprisingly, this data point that
happened "last Thursday" wasn't included in the CDC mortality statistics
for 2010.
Do any of you actually read my posts?
Nice political shot, though.
Paul
On 03/23/2013 02:49 PM, Nicholas Gier wrote:
> Hi Paul,
>
> Do you consider a 10-month-old an infant? Then here is your statistic:
>
> *Reports: Father accidentally shoots, kills 10-month-old son in front
> of family*
>
> */By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News/*
>
> A 10-month-old boy was shot and killed by his father Thursday in an
> apparent accident at a Nashville, Tenn., hotel, local media reported.
>
> Two police detectives from the Hermitage Precinct were close to the
> hotel when the call went out and made it to the scene within about
> three minutes but were unable to resuscitate the child, NBC affiliate
> WSMV-TV Channel 4
> <http://www.wsmv.com/story/21647213/10-month-old-baby-dies-after-being-shot> reported.
>
> The child's mother Jacquelin Bass, 28, and the couple's other sons,
> aged 3 and 2, were in the room when the gun went off, the station said.
>
> The baby was shot once in the chest as his father, Larry Bass, 30,
> handled the semi-automatic handgun, the Nashville Tennessean
> <http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130314/NEWS03/130314025/Shooting-hotel-kills-10-month-old-boy?nclick_check=1> reported.
>
> NBCNews was unable to independently confirm the accounts early Friday.
>
> Both news outlets reported that the family, from Texas, was at the
> Extended Stay America hotel near Nashville International Airport when
> the incident happened. Larry Bass was in town to work on construction
> of the Music City Center, a 1.2-million-square foot convention center.
>
> The newspaper said the family had checked in on Jan. 29.
>
> Ten-month-old Adam Bass would have had turned 1 in May, the Tennessean
> reported, quoting police spokesman Don Aaron as saying that the family
> was "very, very distraught over what's happened" and that "the police
> department does not believe this was an intentional act."
>
> Attempts to reach the police department were unsuccessful early
> Friday. WSMV said a police investigation was continuing.
>
> The article I was responding to was talking about gun safety, so I
> was looking at gun accident statistics only. Since the CDC is the
> go-to place for death statistics, I went there. Unfortunately,
> they only have data through 2010, with some 2011 non-official
> data, but no 2011 data on gun accidents that I could find, let
> alone data from 2012 and beyond.
>
> 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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