Or we can ignore the reports from the CDC, FBI and DOJ, and instead go by the FUD claims generated by biased organizations like the
Brady Campaign who make claims such as this one:
- Firearm homicide is the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle crashes) for young people ages 1-19 in the U.S.[SUP]9[/SUP]
The Citation is this
[SUP]9[/SUP]National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (2007 (deaths) and 2008 (injuries)),
http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html. Calculations by Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 2009
Oh look. WISQARS. Looks familiar. But aren't they unreliable?
But lets look at their data. I've been looking at 2010 which is the last complete year currently in the system.
The premise is "Firearm homicide is the second-leading cause of death (after motor vehicle crashes) for young people ages 1-19 in the U.S"
So, lets look at this by year:
[TD="width: 141"]
firearm deaths
[/TD]
[TD="width: 123"]
vehicle deaths
[/TD]
[TD="width: 120"]
Population
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
3,067
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
6,703
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
82,749,431
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
2,966
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
5,464
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
83,118,264
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
2,811
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
4,933
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
83,280,391
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
2,711
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
4,442
[/TD]
[TD="bgcolor: #D3D3D3"]
83,267,556
[/TD]
I think cars are still killing more people, but hey! Look, despite there being more people, more guns and more cars, the dying from them is decreasing.
Now Homicides are listed as the #2 cause of death, age 1-19.
So lets drill down more.
10,822 homicides. How many firearm related? 71.5% or 7,780.
34,680 Unintentional Injuries. 19,664 motor vehicle related. Next on the accident list is drowning at 3,916.
Malignant Neoplasms 7,718.
So while the claim of the Bradys is technically accurate, it depends on how you group your data. If the claim of the NYT is correct and there are misreportings in the system, the firearm rate may increase of decrease somewhat and change the tally, but death by auto is still more likely.
The Brady FUD claim is as I said, technically correct. But your kid is more likely to die in a car accident or equally likely to die from a tumor than a gunshot, and all are statistically low probability occurrences.
Again, correct my numbers if they are wrong.