You can't count on gun control statistics

Outdoors in Alaska, by Howard Delo

A couple of weeks ago, I discussed some reports which studied who owned firearms in this country, how they used those firearms, and why most people unfamiliar with guns tended to fear them.

I received a couple of interesting e-mails from readers as a result. One contained an article written by the CNS News Congressional Bureau Chief, Jeff Johnson, which discussed Dr. John Lott's book, "More guns, less crime: understanding crime and gun control laws."

In the article, Lott states that a negative bias in the reporting of gun-related news stories is widespread in the major print media. Johnson writes, "In an examination of New York Times news stories from 2001, Lott found 104 articles related to the use of guns by criminals, totaling 50,745 words. He excluded court case coverage, crimes committed with bb or pellet guns, guns recovered at crime scenes but not used in the crime under investigation, wrongful shootings by police and the illegal transportation or sale of guns.

By contrast, the national 'newspaper of record' wrote 163 words about the defensive use of a gun by a citizen in only one story. The results were similar for USA Today, which reported 5,660 words on criminal use of guns but no reporting on the use of guns to stop crimes, and the Washington Post, which devoted 46,884 words to the criminal use of firearms and 953 words to their defensive use by law-abiding citizens."

The article discusses several more points Lott makes in his book. I'll only mention one.

We have all heard about how "nine children die each day from firearms misuse" across the country. These numbers have been reported both in the national press and on the major television news broadcasts over the last few years.

Using information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the year 1999 (the last complete year's data when Lott was compiling his book), Lott found that more children died from bicycle accidents (81) than from accidental discharges of a firearm (31). A subcategory of the 31 total child deaths from accidental discharges of a firearm included those where a child less than 10 years of age pulled the trigger (6). Of the 25 remaining child deaths, according to the article, "they overwhelmingly take place in …households where someone with a criminal record, an adult, is accidentally firing the gun."

The number of kids accidentally shooting kids, where a child is considered to be 10 years old or younger, not a 24 year-old killed in a gang and drug-related shootout, ranged from five to nine cases per year from 1995 through 1999.

These two points shine some light on the bias within the gun control debate and the "anti's" tactics, at least in my mind.

On a more local note, the second e-mail contained a reminder about shot-up road signs around the valley and suggested that the state institute a tax on ammunition, reloading supplies and guns to pay for replacing these vandalized signs.

I agree -- a problem exists here. However, a tax won't fix the situation. The state constitution prohibits "dedicated funds," which means if a tax were collected, it would go into the state's general fund and could be allocated for any state-spending situation, like dredging a harbor or the cost of a special session of the Legislature.

What would help would be legislation providing for stiff penalties for anyone caught shooting or vandalizing a road sign, having the number of police necessary to enforce this type of statute, and the willingness of the public to quickly and routinely report such destructive acts they have witnessed to the police for investigation, arrest and prosecution.

We hear a lot about tolerance nowadays. This is one area where tolerance is not only a bad idea but is also contributing to the problem. Knowingly allowing a vandal with a gun to destroy public property while endangering the lives of passing motorists and pedestrians in the area is criminal itself.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist living in Big Lake. Send your comments and ideas to editor@frontiersman.com, or call (907) 352-2268 and leave a message for Howard.