cuchulainn
Member
You folk who live in up in New York (especially NYC) might want to contact your local press outlets and put a stop to this lie that's not only spreading, but morphing into an even worse lie in the hands of the press.
Yesterday, in support of Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-gun activity, Children's Defense Fund-New York issued an, ahem, "report" using CDC's 2003 data to claim "that the number of firearm deaths of children in New York was 131 -- more than two per week."
Link to press release: http://www.cdfny.org/News/PressReleases/070706 NY Gun Release.pdf
Of course the number 131 relies on the old lie that counts adults ages 18 and 19 as "children." This is easily seen using CDC's online "WISQARS" database (the number actually is 133; CDF got that wrong too). Indeed, slightly more than half -- 68 -- of the "children" cited by this group were adults ages 18 and 19. Thus the 133 "children" breaks down into 68 adults, 53 adolescents ages 15-17, and only 12 children ages 14 or younger.
Link to WISQARS: http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html
Here's the kicker. That statistical lie referred to New York State. However, an idiot reporter for the NYC ABC affiliate yesterday reported it as referring to New York City, emoting, "More than one child a week is killed by gun violence in New York City."
Link to story transcript: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4356740
Yesterday, in support of Mayor Bloomberg’s anti-gun activity, Children's Defense Fund-New York issued an, ahem, "report" using CDC's 2003 data to claim "that the number of firearm deaths of children in New York was 131 -- more than two per week."
Link to press release: http://www.cdfny.org/News/PressReleases/070706 NY Gun Release.pdf
Of course the number 131 relies on the old lie that counts adults ages 18 and 19 as "children." This is easily seen using CDC's online "WISQARS" database (the number actually is 133; CDF got that wrong too). Indeed, slightly more than half -- 68 -- of the "children" cited by this group were adults ages 18 and 19. Thus the 133 "children" breaks down into 68 adults, 53 adolescents ages 15-17, and only 12 children ages 14 or younger.
Link to WISQARS: http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html
Here's the kicker. That statistical lie referred to New York State. However, an idiot reporter for the NYC ABC affiliate yesterday reported it as referring to New York City, emoting, "More than one child a week is killed by gun violence in New York City."
Link to story transcript: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4356740
