According to the National Safety Council’s 1997 Accident Fact Book you are twice as likely to suffocate on a swallowed object, seven times more likely to be poisoned, ten times more likely to die falling, 31 times more likely to die in an automobile accident then to be accidentally shot with a gun.
According to the National Safety Council’s 1998 report the top six causes of accidental deaths:
|
Accidental Deaths |
Number of dead Americans |
|
Medical Error |
120,000 |
|
Motor Vehicles |
41,200 |
|
Falls |
16,600 |
|
Poisoning |
8,400 |
|
Drowning |
4100 |
|
Fire |
3700 |
In 1996 there were only 21 accidental gun deaths for children under age 15. About twice as many children under 10 die from drowning in bathtubs. (U.S. Center for Disease Control)
In 1993 there were 1334 drowning and 528 firearm-related accidental deaths from ages 0-19 years old. Firearms outnumber pools by a factor of over 30:1. Thus the risk of drowning in a pool is nearly 100 times higher than from firearm-related accident for everyone, and nearly 500 times for ages 0-5. (National Center of Health Statistics, and the National Spa and Pool Institute)
In a landmark study preformed by Dr. Lucian Leape, an adjunct professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health an estimated one million patients nationwide are injured during hospital treatments each year resulting in 120,000 deaths. They found that one out of every 200 patients died as a result of a hospital mistake and that errors accounted for 69 percent of of injuries caused by medical treatment. Serious injury and death casued by medical errors are well-known facts in the medical community but are rarely reported to the public. If one out of every two hundred visitors to a gun range were accidently killed by an error by the rangemaster how long would they be in business?
"If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being a gift of God, it is not within the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave."
Samuel Adams, Father of the American Revolution
Accidental Deaths of Children Ages 0 to 14
NSC Figures 1991
