Gun Story

Now here's an interesting story about a recent study on guns and children:

ATLANTA - About 2.5 percent of children live in homes that have loaded and unlocked guns, down more than three-quarters from previously estimated levels, according to what is described as the first comprehensive survey of gun storage in homes across the country.

The study, published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that the number of children at risk of accidental shooting is far less than once though, thanks in part to widespread education efforts by parents and gun rights groups.

"This shows that Americans, by and large, are responsible gun owners who invest the time to learn proper firearm use and storage," said Joe Smith, a spokesman for the American Firearms Association, a pro-gun organization.

Oh wait. I'm sorry. That story didn't actually get written.

Here's the actual story.

ATLANTA - 1.7 million U.S. children live in homes that have loaded and unlocked guns, according to what is described as the first comprehensive survey of gun storage in homes across the country.

The study, published Tuesday in the journal Pediatrics, found that 2.5 percent of children live in homes with loaded and unsecured firearms. Estimates from the early 1990s had put the percentage at 10 percent. The new results suggest a decline, but that doesn't mean there's cause for celebration, said Catherine Okoro, a study author.

"That's still too many children to be put at risk," said Okoro, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(Bold text mine)

First, let me state that anyone who leaves a loaded and unsecured firearm lying around the house with small children is a criminally negligent idiot. But this article does its best to muddy the waters, conflating the broader swath of gun owners with the small subset who don't practice proper safety.

The article has another quote from an Alabama health official as saying: "We have a hunting tradition in the Deep South, but there's no excuse for having loaded guns in the house."

Got that? No excuse. None whatever. Try telling that to 10,000 people in New Orleans right now.

There's also no data on child deaths associated with loaded and unlocked firearms. But let me put forth this hypothesis: In places where loaded, unlocked guns are common in the home (Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Montana), kids are taught at a very early age not to mess with the household ordnance.

I bet that most accidental home firearm deaths among kids occur in cities, particularly those with strict handgun laws. Under such circumstances, only the most desperate and irresponsible types can obtain guns. These are not the people that have finely honed parenting skills.

Here's another bit that is interesting, though perhaps not in the way the author intended:

Nationally, 33 percent of adults said they kept firearms in or around their home. The highest percentage was in Wyoming, where 63 percent said they had firearms. The lowest percentage was reported in the District of Columbia, where 5 percent reported having guns at home. The district has long-standing bans on handguns and semiautomatic weapons.

What the article doesn't bother to point out to readers is that, amazingly enough, Wyoming has a far lower level of crime than D.C.

In 2000, Wyoming, with a population of about 500,000, had 2.4 murders and 267 violent crimes for every 100,000 people.

Meanwhile, D.C., with 570,000 people, had 41.8 murders and 1,508 violent crimes per 100,000 people.

But remember, people don't kill people. Only guns kill people.

UPDATE: Thanks to Retired Geezer for pointing out an incomplete sentence/thought. I've since fixed it up. It was the paragraph that began: "First, let me state..."