I Can’t Stop Now! More Validation!.

Again, sorry for the lack of posting. Work has been… consuming. And I’m in the middle of a lot of stuff having to do with my house. Anyway, I got this email today:

Just wanted to let you know that your message is getting through, and being spread.

We recently had an eight year old in the community shot by a fourteen year old with a handgun. Not much info on who owned the gun, why the kids weren’t in school or who was supervising them, but an unfortunate accident none the less. The local liberal paper took the opportunity to parrot the gun control lies with a front page article saying how child shootings are not uncommon because there are “eight per day in the US”. Followed by an editorial with the same BS and suggestions for getting trigger locks and asking the question “do you really need a gun?”

I knew I had read relevant material on your site, so looked up some info and sent them the following letter.

http://www.al.com/search/index.ssf?/base/opinion/112919501214480.xml?huntsvilletimes?olet&coll=1

Look about half way down.

I had a lot more to say, but they limit us to 250 words.

Regards

Louis Barraza

And here’s that letter-to-the-editor:

Teach your kids

The shooting death of the Huntsville boy this week was a tragic occurrence, but there was no need by The Times to sensationalize it (“A deadly mixture,” Oct. 7) by misquoting Centers for Disease Control statistics.

The actual number of children ages 0 to 14 killed by accidental gunshot in the United States was 60, per the CDC report for 2002 published this year. Not “eight per day” as The Times claimed.

The numbers quoted are for “children” up to age 24, the vast majority of which were killed in drug, illegal activity or gang- related homicides.

While everyone agrees that 60 deaths are surely 60 too many, some perspective is in order. In the same age range, 95 died from falls and 838 drowned.

Complications from doctors and medical mistakes killed 69, making firearms just a little less likely to kill than a mistake by a doctor.

The Times’ suggestions are a good start in reducing tragedies, but the most important – education – was left out.

Guns are not uncommon, and all children should be taught safe practices whether they live in a home with any or not.

Children are naturally curious and must be taught about the dangers and uses of firearms, just like they are taught about the danger and uses of the poison under the sink or the power tools in the garage.

Louis G. Barraza

Thank you, Louis. It encourages me to know that all of the time I put into the blog actually has a payback.