In the last episode of the Handgun Podcast (the episode title is Technical Difficulties) Eric mentioned he picked up an anti-gun brochure from the American Academy of Pediatrics. It sounded bad so I asked him if I could get a scan which is so kindly provided. So here it is.
http://christopherburg.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/anti-gun-pediatrics.pdf
So I’ll just give my view on the brochure on a point by point basis.
Firearms Injury Prevention
More than 44 million American own firearms. Of the 192 million firearms owned in the United States, 65 million are handguns.
Oh the humanity! Not handguns. Whatever shall we do, they are almost as evil as “assault weapons.”
Research shows guns in the homes are a serious risk to families.
I guess this could be true if the guns are lying around where kids can get at them. Kenn Blanchard told a story on his Urban Shooter podcasts about his grandmother. She kept a loaded shotgun behind the stove. Not once did the kids touch them because they were educated on the fact they shouldn’t touch guns without adult supervision. Go figure, who would have thought education could be beneficial. Apparently not the American education system.
Let’s go through their bullet list of fallacies.
A gun kept in the home is 43 times more likely to kill someone known to the family than to kill someone in self-defense.
I guess if we are going to include suicides than maybe this starts to make some shred of sense. But still it doesn’t. Just look at the Gun Facts document in the link.
A gun kept in the home triples the risk of homicide.
So because I own a gun I’m more likely to be a victim of suicide? Or am I the one who will commit homicide? Or will the gun kill people by itself? Vague facts usually aren’t facts at all but made up.
The risk of suicide is 5 times more likely if a gun is kept in the home.
So as long as I don’t have a gun I won’t commit suicide? I didn’t realize that guns caused depression. Interesting.
Lets look at the “Advice to parents” this brochure provides.
The best way to keep your children safe from injury or death from guns is to NEVER have a gun in the home.
What’s the best way to be defenseless when somebody breaks into your home? Why that’s to NEVER have a gun in the home. But hey when a criminal with a gun breaks into your home and threatens your child’s life what will you do if you don’t have a gun? Ask him not to shoot your child?
While we’re on the subject cars related incidents kill FAR more people every year then gun related incidents. The best way to avoid dying in a car accident is to NEVER have a car.
Find out if there are guns in the homes where your children play. If so, talk to the adults in the house about the dangers of guns to their family.
Yes be a good sheep and try to force your views on other people. Seriously does this mean if I know somebody who doesn’t have guns in their home I should tell them the dangers of being defenseless?
And then the classic line.
For those who know of the dangers of guns but still keep a gun in the home
You terrible human being you. You know guns are terrible evil devices that will murder your family and make you commit suicide, yet you still keep them in the home! For shame. What kind of advice does the American Academy of Pediatrics have for you horrible people?
Always keep the gun unloaded and locked up.
Lock and store the bullets in a separate place.
That’s right make the gun useless in a situation where you need it. Great advice, make your best means of defense worthless. Uh huh.
Anyways here is the link to Gun Facts which I mentioned.
http://www.gunfacts.info/
Finally I leave you with the contact information of the person who’s name is on this document.
Meredith A. Byington M.D.
1317 E. Hwy 175, Suite 800
Crandall, Texas 75114
972-472-3800
Her company’s (really shitty) website is http://www.mykaleidoscopekids.com.
Hey if she didn’t want this information out she wouldn’t have put it in here document.
Source: http://handgunpodcast.com/