[ubiquity0]

Originally posted by coolbeverage
What gets me is how every story, unfortunate as it may be, of a child finding a gun in their home and hurting or killing someone or themselves makes it all over every paper in the land. A properly registered gun owner thwarts a robbery, stops a rape, defendes themselves with their gun and it makes it in no paper whatsoever. I did a indepth research paper on this in college useing the most powerfull search tool offereed, Lexus/Nexus. I quickly realized that the numerous reports of people succesfully defending themselves with firearms equalls a 2 sentence blurb and the one kid per year in any city who shoots himself accidently is huge front page news. That is a serious unbalance if you ask me. And, typical unfair play by the liberal media.

Although I would certianly agree with your conclusions about the media (media drawing as much mileage as possible from tragedy, and all but ignoring good news), I'm not sure I agree with your assertion that the incidence of child gun accidents is so rare, while the the succesful use of guns for justified self-defense is so common.

"The overall firearm-related death rate among U.S. children aged less than 15 years was nearly 12 times higher than among children in 25 other industrialized countries combined.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Rates of Homicide, Suicide, and Firearm-Related Death Among Children -- 26 Industrialized Countries," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 46(05): 101-105, February 07, 1997."




"Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home.
Journal of Trauma-Injury Infection & Critical Care. 45(2):263-267, August 1998.
Kellermann, Arthur L. MD, MPH; Somes, Grant PhD; Rivara, Frederick P. MD, MPH; Lee, Roberta K. RN, PhD; Banton, Joyce G. MS
Abstract:
Objectives: Determine the relative frequency with which guns in the home are used to injure or kill in self-defense, compared with the number of times these weapons are involved in an unintentional injury, suicide attempt, or criminal assault or homicide.

Methods: We reviewed the police, medical examiner, emergency medical service, emergency department, and hospital records of all fatal and nonfatal shootings in three U.S. cities: Memphis, Tennessee; Seattle, Washington; and Galveston, Texas.

Results: During the study interval (12 months in Memphis, 18 months in Seattle, and Galveston) 626 shootings occurred in or around a residence. This total included 54 unintentional shootings, 118 attempted or completed suicides, and 438 assaults/homicides. Thirteen shootings were legally justifiable or an act of self-defense, including three that involved law enforcement officers acting in the line of duty. For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.

Conclusions: Guns kept in homes are more likely to be involved in a fatal or nonfatal accidental shooting, criminal assault, or suicide attempt than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense."
http://www.jtrauma.com/pt/re/jtrauma/abstract.00005373-199808000-00010.htm;jsessionid=CohS2VKAO2S2X2mu8hpJ4igofbN1b EWxLCMUmaXAsuSEy73uHwL6!872722892!-949856032!9001!-1