Gun Violence: Rural, Urban Children Die By Gunshot At Equal Rates, Says Northwestern Study

[RamboLiberal]

CHICAGO — Children in the most rural areas of the United States are as likely to die by gunshot as kids in the biggest cities, a new analysis of nearly 24,000 deaths finds.

Not surprisingly, murders involving firearms are more common among city youth. But gun suicides and accidental fatal shootings level the score: They are more common among rural kids.

"This debunks the myth that firearm death is a big-city problem," said lead author Dr. Michael Nance of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "This is everybody's problem."

The findings were published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

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The researchers sorted them by county then compared the gun death rates for the most urban counties_ those with populations of 1 million or more, like Dallas County in Texas – and the most rural counties – the ones far from cities or with fewer than 2,500 people, like Powder River County in Montana. They found essentially the same rate, about 4 deaths per 100,000 children.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/gun-violence-rural-urban_n_586722.html

And that is a very small death rate IMHO. At work so don't have time at the moment to research other death rates by autos, bikes, pools, etc for children but I'd expect much much higher.

[slackmaster]

1. Same overall rate, two completely different root causes, a meaningless apples-to-oranges comparison

Urban "children" of age 19 and younger become victims of violent crime irrespective of the instrument used. Rural "children" are more likely to commit suicide irrespective of the instrument used.

18- and 19-year-old "children" (who are of course legally adults) account for more than half of firearm-perpetrated homicides and all homicides of people under age 20. The same is true for firearm-perpetrated suicides, no matter how you cherry-pick the numbers and spin the interpretation. Calling this an issue of deaths of "children" is an appeal to emotion, and the analysis by the researchers at Northwestern ignores the real root causes of violent crime and suicide.

http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html

:kick:

[GreenStormCloud]

2. I was 18 when I went to Vietnam. Does that mean I was a child soldier? N/T

[slackmaster]

4. A child sent overseas to murder innocent babies

:spray:

[oneshooter]

6. I was 19. n/t

[cowman]

9. I was 18 and scared shitless

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. So it's Fair and Balanced. Where have I heard that before....

Oh yeah, like Fox News.

[Callisto32]

5. I have issues with their methodology.

The two populations have causes that point to totally different issues. What is the point of this?

All it seems to show is what we already know. The cities have a problem with murder and thug culture, and the rural areas have issues related to poor safety practices and mental illness.

I also wonder what "children" means.

[ManiacJoe]

7. "Children" includes 18 and 19 year old adults.

I would like to see some unbloated data.

[slackmaster]

8. I suspect the urban vs. rural disparity drops rapidly below age 18

Even faster below 14, at which rates of both murder and suicide are very low.

[visigoth]

10. Interesting, but of no use.

Apart from the obvious way that children are defined, this article doesn't really tell us anything useful unless. Homicide and suicide are not the same thing and are not related. They are only associated in this case due to the tool used to accomplish each.

The writers want us to accept two assumptions that are common in the anti camp, particularity with the public health crowd. First, that all firearms related deaths and injuries are basically equivalent, that they are the same problem. Second, that guns cause people to do things they'd otherwise never consider doing, that somehow access to a firearm results in people forming suicidal or homicidal intent independent of any other factors.

[Name removed]

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