By Kellene Bishop, Women of Caliber
When you’re finished reading this piece, I hope that you will see how numerous of our government officials AND the majority of our journalists are actually guilty of premeditated child endangerment in our nation.
Don’t you HATE being manipulated? I don’t know about you, but I LOATHE being manipulated. So much so that when I’m watching a live presentation and I can tell that I’m being manipulated to laugh or clap or holler at a particular moment, I obstinately refuse to be a “joiner.” To me, manipulation is right up there with spewing “bold-face” lies. Such actions are disingenuous, and in my not-so-humble opinion, when such manipulated efforts are perpetrated by a government or otherwise trusted “officials”, it’s worse than just a lie. It’s an act of treason which is intended to strip me of my freedoms and security. So how would you like to discover that countless attempts are shot at you regularly to manipulate how you raise your children, and in doing so are actually putting your children at a significant danger? Yup. Now “Dem’s Fighting Words, Bubba!”
Welcome to the relationship our international media has with guns. Their motives are unfathomable to me, but they clearly reek of a subservience, minion-like attitude of one who is serving a tyrannical king. (Makes me wonder why so much blood has been spilt so that these journalists can have the right of free press, when they clearly do not use such a right freely.) While horrific criminals are being let off Scott free for premeditated murder of children, child abuse, child endangerment, and child slavery, our very own media is in love with manipulating our nation’s parents in their views and education of their children about firearms. IF firearms are a danger to the lives of children, then they are sounding a much needed warning cry. However, IF firearms are actually an effective means of protecting ourselves and our children, then such manipulation is a terrorist act, in my opinion. In such a case, here’s the real crime—the protection and safety of our children should be the number one priority of every single parent in America. Such instincts to protect the children are even remarkably innate in non-parents as well. And IF a firearm can actually ensure that an added measure of safety and security is available for our children, then anyone who would desire to eliminate such a tool is an enemy to my children, the future security of my country, and thus a terrorist enemy to me.
If right now, you cringe at the thought of possessing a firearm in your home or on your persons out of fear that a child may be harmed by it accidentally, then you have indeed fallen prey to this criminal campaign. Here’s why.
Crime #1—How the government statistics define “children.” Since the anti-gun proponents frequently use images of young children to ensure the proper emotional reaction to firearm accident statistics, it’s important to understand how such research studies define a child. Are you ready? According to the majority of all gun and children related accidents a child is defined as the age of 0 to 20 and even as old as TWENTY-FOUR years old, depending on the source. That’s right. Junior who has joined a gang at the age of 18 and is 35 times more likely to be shot as a result of such gang-relations is blatantly used to skew the statistics of the “children and guns” movement of the anti-gunners. Why is this the case? For the very reason that I used in my example. Gang related deaths are numerous. And unfortunately it’s common for teens to be involved in gangs, thus they are involved in gang related shootings.
“Most violent crime is committed by males ages 16-24, so these numbers include adult gang members dying during criminal activity.” (FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, 1997)
“18-20 year olds commit over 23% of all gun murders.” (U.S. Treasury and Justice Dept. Report, 1999) None of these “children” are allowed to purchase a handgun due to their age under current law.
And don’t forget the fact that some of these “children” are fighting over in Iraq or Afghanistan right now. The clear motivation with this stretched definition of what constitutes a child is that the anti-gun individuals will have a more suitably intimidating statistic of “children involved in gun related deaths” to influence society with. Don’t believe that these statistics are defined this way? Here’s just one direct quote from Handgun Control, Inc., a blatantly anti-gun organization.
The annual review of mortality data, published by the Department of Health and Human Services, said gun-related deaths dropped from 4,223 in 1997 to 3,792 among children under age 20 in 1998.” -Handgun Control, Inc. (emphasis added.)
In actuality, 142 children ranging in age from 0 to 14 were killed as the result of a gun. That does not imply that 142 deaths of any age is acceptable, but do you really think that the media and government officials would get the emotional result from you they desired if they instead stated “Out of over 300 million guns held legally nationwide among over 15 million children under the age of 14, 142 were killed in 1997.” Yeah. It lacks the “pow” effect that they believe they can accomplish with the other so-called statistic. It’s a far cry from the 4,223 or 3,792 number, now isn’t it? Do you feel manipulated yet? Don’t worry if you don’t. I’ve got more.
Crime #2—Blatant Media Bias on the Reporting of Children and Gun Incidents: When you see a news report on a child killed with a gun, pay attention to how many times such a report is run compared to any other news piece, and pay attention to the pictures which are associated with such an instance. When individuals are killed in an airplane crash, what does the media attempt to do after such a report? They predictably follow up the story with statistics on overall safety record of flying, attempting to allay any fears the viewers/readers may have about flying. Have you EVER read a news article that ever attempted to convey the facts about the SAFETY and BENEFITS of guns in our nation?
During 2001, John Lott, Sr., Research Scholar of the School of Law at Yale University, audited the 3 major news networks. During that year there were over 190,000 words of coverage dedicated to gun crimes. However, only 580 total words were devoted to the merits of owning a gun for self-defense, and even that occurred as the result of ONE network interviewing a police office who helped stop a school shooting.
In 1999, Newsweek did a special issue of “American Under the Gun.” There were over 15,000 words spewed in an attempt to bias the dangers of gun ownership and not one single word sharing statistics of the use of guns in self-defense scenarios.
In 2001, USA Today contained 5,660 words on crimes committed with a gun, no words on gun use in self-defense. Washington Post provided 46,884 words on stories of gun crimes with only 953 words on defensive uses of guns.
In 1999, 20/20 aired a very anti-gun episode specifically attempting to enlighten viewers on dangers of mixing children and guns. During the course of the show, a toy room was filmed showing children playing with real guns and playing with them as if they were toys. At one point the “voiceover” even stated “It wasn’t long before the shooting began.” There was NO shooting. There was make-believe play! The same year this show aired, 1999, there were 31 children under the age of 10 who died from accidental gun deaths. Is there ANY other way that children die which receives more press attention with the same level of alarm? Think about it. If 31 children died this year as the result of choking on a Triscuit cracker, do you think it would receive ANY news coverage? The level of disproportionate coverage is clearly an indicator of blatant manipulation. Wouldn’t it be revolutionary for a new report to follow-up a rare accidental child shooting with statistics such as, “Did you know that water is 19 times more dangerous to a child than a firearm? Or “Bathtubs are twice as dangerous to children as guns. Fire is 18 times more dangerous to children than guns. Cars are 57 times more dangerous. Household cleaners and poisons are twice as dangerous.” (Dr. Joyce Lee Malcolm, Guns and Violence , Bentley College history professor)
Feel manipulated yet? There’s more.
Crime #3—Blatant Government Bias on the Reporting of Children and Gun Incidents: First of all, it’s important that you understand that government reports almost always result in statistics which favor the entity which funded the work of creating such a report. Politicians clearly want research studies which produce the support for the position which they have already opted to take. And they rarely resist injecting politics into supposedly objective science studies. In spite of being in existence and well-funded for decades and with all of the “studies available” conducted by government organizations on guns and children, the Department of Justice and the National Institute of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, has never conducted ANY is ANY report which attempts to discover the number of children’s lives that were SAVED as the result of a gun being present.
The manipulation never seems to cease, does it?
Crime #4—Out Right LYING about Gun Use Statistics: Seatbelts save lives, right? That’s why it’s a crime in most areas of the country not to have your child in a car seat and with a seat belt. And yet in spite of such requirements, 250,000 children are injured in car accidents every year, with over 2,000 of them resulting in child fatalities. (National Center for Statistics) Additionally, in spite of the rare circumstances which have occurred in which a seat belt or an air bag has actually killed a child in such an accident, you do not hear any clamoring for such cars or automobile safety features to be banned or locked up, right? And yet the entire aura of government reports and media reporting would have you believe that guns are an offending foe in the deaths of children.
While we’re told that 13 children die every day from a gun accident, this number “13” involves gang-related activities while committing felonies and kids that commit suicide. (FBI Uniform Statistics, 1997) In fact, four children dies each day in the U.S. as the result of parental neglect and abuse. Perhaps we should register and license parents? Not! The number “13” is nothing more than a bold-face lie intended to manipulate the presence of guns for self-defense in our lives.
According to the Center for Disease Control, of all of the accidental killings of children, 56% of them were from car accidents, 22% were from drowning. 0.1% of all deaths of U.S. children between the ages of zero and 14 are from firearms according to the National Safety Council. In 2000, there were 86 accidental firearm deaths of children under the age of 15. However, in that same year there were 40 children under the age of five that died in a bucket and 80 who died drowning in a tub.
According to the General Accounting Office, gun trigger locks are proven ineffective against most children older than 7 years of age. California has a trigger lock law and saw a 12% increase in fatal firearm accidents in 2005. Texas doesn’t have such a law and experienced a 28% decrease in firearm accidents in that same year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
The myth is perpetuated that handguns are 43 times more likely to kill a family member than a criminal. And yet of the deaths that were reported in the study this mythical statistic originates, 86% of the deaths were suicides. Other deaths involved criminal activity between the family members such as drug deals that went awry. Only 0.1% of the defensive gun deaths resulted in the death of a family member. (Dr. Gary Kleck, Criminologist, Florida State Univ.)
Manipulation rages on.
Crime #5—Failing to Assist in the Education of REAL Gun Safety: You can’t watch television all your life without being exposed to the reinforcement of rules that parents teach their children such as “don’t talk to strangers,” “say please and thank you”, etc. And yet there has not yet been ONE government or media sponsored piece teaching children gun safety. Over the past 5 years, not a single gun safety mention has ever been made after the report of an accidental shooting involving a child. Not one. And yet if the safety message of parents were to be reinforced by the media and our government, the number of accidental child shootings would be reduced by HALF! (Read The Bias Against Guns by John R. Lott, Jr.) Instead of supporting and even sharing such teachings of safety, our media, entertainment industry, and particularly Hollywood glorifies the insolence and rebellion of youth and gangs.
In my opinion, if you are not a part of the solution, then you are definitely a part of the problem. Instead of getting this kind of support funded from the egregious taxes they pay, parents have to rely solely on like-minded friends and family members, or the generosity of private organizations such as the NRA’s Eddie Eagle Gun Safety program, to reinforce the most critical of gun safety rules. If you were to protect yourself and your family from an intruder (rapist, kidnapper, robber), would a telephone or a firearm be more effective?
The facts are that over 2.5 million crimes are PREVENTED every year as the result of the possession of legally held firearms. (as reported by John R. Lott, JR AND Dr. Gary Kleck) How many of those prevented crimes have actually saved the life of a child or prevented the sexual abuse of a child or a child kidnapping? Well, that’s yet one more “research study” that is glaringly missing from the campaign of guns in America. Gee. I wonder why?
Instead of vilifying guns and gun owners, our government should be accurately reporting the facts related to guns and children and guns used in self-defense. And based on the REAL statistics, even encourage and empower more citizens to actually possess and use guns in self-defense and to defend their family.
Consider these final facts. Eight times as many children die from non-gun violent acts than from gun crimes. (Kids and Guns, 2000, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention) 82% of homicides to children age 13 and under were committed without a gun. (1997, FBI Uniform Crime Statistics)
Yes. You’re being manipulated. And the overwhelming statistics of SAFETY actually prove that such a distortion of the truth could cause harm to your children. That’s why I wholeheartedly accuse several government officials and leaders, as well as so many so-called journalists of endangering the life of our nation’s children. Unfortunately, if you buy into this travesty of a campaign, the real statistics indicate that it just may COST you or your child their life.
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Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
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You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.
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Filed under: children and guns, firearm education, media and guns, politics, second amendment | Tagged: 20/20, anti-gun, bias against guns, child endangerment, children and guns, firearms, gangs, gun safety, gun trigger locks, guns and violence, hollywood, john lott jr, john lott sr., lies, manipulation, murder, newsweek, nra, seatbelts, violent crime, women of caliber | 3 Comments »
I’ll start right off with answering the question, “What is Really Responsible for the Deaths of Our Nation’s Children?”
The other night I was at a family gathering watching 12 raucous boys ranging in age from 3 to 12 in the back yard. There were all kinds of “boy toys” back there such as foam swords, balls, and even a plastic gun.
It defies logic to think that we can simply teach children that “play” guns are acceptable but “real” guns are not, when “play” guns always instill the physical action of pointing and shooting!
When a child is old enough to pick up a toy gun and begin playing with it, this is the perfect time to take him into the education process of teaching him the REAL world of guns.
From the beginning of the 1800’s and through the 1970’s you rarely heard of accidental shootings with children. 
Serious flaws were present with the 20/20 show aired last Friday, April 10, 2009. 
In this scenario, 20/20 had a “shooter” enter a classroom full of undercover participants and one “Exhibit A,” an individual “armed” with a derivative of a paintball gun in a holster on their person. 
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Women of Caliber 