1997, 738 children under age 13 were murdered in the US – just 133 by guns, according to the FBI.

So my question is why are people so focused on guns there are many other things that each in and of themselves kill far more children each year than guns, could be maybe saving lives isnt the real issue here?

In the last 31 years the population has increased almost 70,000,000 million and firearm ownership has quadrupled, yet firearm accidents are at an all time low and homicide rates are lower per 100,000 than anytime in the last 32 years. 75 to 90% of murders were committed by repeat criminals. Over 70% were good riddence killings.(criminals killing criminals). It has been estimated that as many as 20% of homicides are self-defense or justifiable in the final analysis. Since the FBI Uniform Crime Reports records justifiable homicide based on the preliminary determination of the reporting officer, rather than upon the final determination, the FBI data dramatically under-reports justifiable homicide. SOURCE
Subtract Firearm used from Total murders to get non- firearm related murders.
—Year —Total murders — Firearm ussed
1991 —-21,676 —————14,373
1992 —-22,716—————-15,489
1993 —-23,180—————-16,136
1994—–22,084—————-15,463
1995 —-20,232—————-13,790
1996 —-16,967—————-11,453
1997 —-15,837—————-10,729
1998 —-14,088—————–9,143
According to preliminary Uniform Crime Reporting Program figures
released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, murder registered
a 13-percent drop during the first 6 months of 1999 when compared
to figures reported for the same time period of the previous year.

Now it shows here that firearm ownership has increased but crime is going down. This seems to indicate that there is no relationship between firearm ownership and crime.

We have a violence problem, not a gun problem.
Guns are not used in 92% of all violent crime
Total Violent crimes 1998 per the Department of Justice
8,116,200
No weapon 5,503,300 68%
Weapon 1,918,700 24%
Gun 670,500 8%
Knife 461,000 6%
Other 647,300 8%
Type not ascertained 140,000 2%
Don’t know 694,200 9%

Governor’s aide sends Maryland lawmakers inflated gun-death data By Margie Hyslop THE WASHINGTON TIMES ANNAPOLIS ? Gov. Parris N. Glendening’s
office forwarded inaccurate information from
Handgun Control Inc. to state legislators,
doubling federal statistics on 1997 gun deaths
in Maryland.
A Glendening legislative staffer sent inflated figures, apparently taken from Handgun Control’s Web site, to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sheila Hixson. They listed firearms deaths in Maryland by victim’s age and type of shooting. Handgun Control Inc.’s research director, Douglas Weil, said staffers used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics to create the chart. But Handgun Control listed a total of 1,408 firearms deaths for Maryland ? almost double the 710 Maryland firearm deaths that the CDC reported. Mr. Weil said the erroneous information was generated inadvertently during turnover in Handgun Control’s research staff. Confusing notes left by a researcher who hadn’t finished compiling the data caused some “double counting,” Mr. Weil said. Glendening spokesman Mike Morrill said the governor and his staff have been saying that about 700 people die in Maryland every year by firearms ? roughly the number reported by the CDC, although they get their figures from the Maryland State Police. But a Glendening staffer, in a reply to a committee request, supplied the numbers, not knowing they were wrong, from a source that “has been reliable” and noted their origin ? Handgun Control Inc. ? Mr. Morrill said. He said the staffer did not know the numbers Handgun Control had posted were wrong until a reporter inquired about the letter. The staffer has now started to inform committee members about the error, Mr. Morrill said. Mr. Weil said the error was made for several states. “We don’t know if one person pulled that information off our Web site or more,” Mr. Weil said. Handgun Control pulled the erroneous information off its Web site about an hour after Yale University professor John Lott ? a gun-rights advocate ? notified them of the discrepancy on March 2, Mr. Weil said. A check revealed the information had been pulled from Handgun Control’s Web site, but the only message said the page was temporarily unavailable. No message appeared on the site yesterday afternoon warning that information posted earlier was erroneous. Although Mr. Weil said the information was posted for no more than two days before it was pulled March 2, the letter Mr. Glendening’s office sent to the committee with the apparent Web site attachments was dated Feb. 21 and stamped received Feb. 23. Delegate Carmen Amedori, Carroll County Republican, said the public needs to know about Handgun Control’s dissemination of false information since the organization has done little to correct the record. “They should be ashamed,” said Mrs. Amedori who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to hear legislation that would legislate “childproof smart guns” this week. “Kids are not piling up like cords of wood.” Statistics the National Rifle Association supplied yesterday in response to a reporter’s query matched the CDC’s data for 1997 firearm deaths in Maryland. Suzin Schneider contributed to this report.

If these people are so right, why do they have to lie?