Re: smart pistols

From: Joe Dees (joedees@addall.com)
Date: Tue May 02 2000 - 22:18:00 MDT


('binary' encoding is not supported, stored as-is) >From: stencil <stencil@bcn.net>
>To: extropians@extropy.com
>Subject: Re: smart pistols
>Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 12:49:43 -0400
>Reply-To: extropians@extropy.com
>
>Mike Lorrey claims and Joe Dees is skeptical:
>>>Being for more safety for kids always sounds reasonable, and nobody
>>>wants to be seen as 'hating babies', however the mere fact that more
>>>toddlers die in 5 gallon buckets than are killed with guns indicates
>>>that there may not really be that much of a safety problem, especially
>>>considering accidental injury and death from firearms is at an all time
>>>historical low (ever since they started taking stats in 1903).
>>>
>>Please furnish the list with your five-gallon-bucket toddler-drowning statistics, and a source for them.
>
>http://www.nasar.org/library/response_1995-fall_dickison.shtml
>
>Of the approximately 3,000 children treated annually in
> hospital emergency rooms for submersion accidents,
>80 percent are admitted.(4) It is estimated that 15
>percent of the population has
> experienced a life-threatening episode in the water.
>
>[...] Drowning rates for black children (4.5/100,000) are
>almost twice those for white children
>(2.6/100,000).2,3,4,7 Males drown four times more
> often than females.(2,3,4,6) In one 10-year study in
>Washington state, boys after one year of age had two to
>eight times greater risk of having a
> significant submersion incident than did girls.
>
>[...] It should be remembered that any container of liquid
>into which a child can fit is a potential site for
>drowning. Five-gallon industrial buckets hold particular
>appeal to the
> curious toddler with his cephalad center of gravity
>and short reaching
> span. Unless the bucket tips over, the young child
>may not be able to
> extricate himself.
>
>[...]Frequency of Drowning in Different
> Media
>Saltwater
>1-2 %
>Fresh Water 98 %
>? ? Swimming 50%
>Pools Private 30%
>? ? ?
> Public, Lakes, rivers 20%
>? ?
> Bathtubs 15%
>? ? Buckets of Liquid 4%
>? ? Fish Tanks or Ponds 4%
>? ? Toilets ? 1%
>? ? Washing Machines ? 1%
>------------------------------
>...references are cited at that website. Note that sample
>boundaries are very fuzzy: "toddler," "infant," or
>"pediatric population." Comparisons with firearms
>Accidental Discharges are difficult because of recent
>years' use - and contamination - of the stats for
>political purposes. Mike Lorrey's point natheless is well
>taken IMO: firearms AD's do not occur frequently enough
>to justify hysteria; the rationale for the agitation to
>prohibit guns must be sought elsewhere.
>
Most toddlers (under the age of 4) would have a hard time opening a desk drawer, lifting the gun and pulling its trigger, so within this age group, drowning deaths are greater than gunshot deaths. Most unintentional self- or other-child-inflicted gunshot deaths of minors (unintentional including bang-bang games where the child does not understand the reality of the result) occur in ages 6 - 12, during a dip in child drownings, and in this age group, when drowning in five-gallon buckets is much less of a danger, gunshot deaths are most likely greater. For ages 15-24, when drowning deaths once again spike, intentional firearm homicides and suicides are also higher than for those younger or older.
>
>stencil sends
>RKBA!
>
>
>
>
>? ?
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>? ?
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>?
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>.

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