and how do we prevent accidents?????????????? Training and educatiion – DUUUUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most shootings, stabbings accidental
Date: Jan 16, 2007 8:52 AM
PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL
DATE: 2007.01.16
PAGE: A15
BYLINE: ANDRE PICARD
SECTION: Health
EDITION: Metro
WORD COUNT: 216

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Most shootings, stabbings accidental

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Gunshot wounds and knife injuries are far less common in real life than
in the blood-splattered world of TV and movies. And, unlike the
fictional world, the vast majority of these “penetrating traumas” — for
which about 100,000 Canadians are treated in emergency rooms annually –
are not deliberate, new research shows. “The bulk of these injuries are
not due to violent crimes, they are unintentional,” said Alison
Macpherson, an adjunct scientist at the Toronto-based Institute for
Clinical Evaluative Sciences.

“Still, they represent a real public health burden.” The new research,
published in today’s edition of the Canadian Journal of Emergency
Medicine, found 40,240 ER visits to Ontario hospitals for treatment of
wounds caused by firearms and knives and other sharp objects in
2002-2003.

Of the total, 586 of the patients were treated for gunshot wounds,
compared with 39,654 who were treated for wounds from knives and other
sharp objects. On average, guns caused more serious wounds than knives.

People in the 15-24 age group were, by far, the most likely to be
injured by guns and knives. And, not surprisingly, males were
significantly more likely to be injured than females.

The research showed that 88 per cent of penetrating injuries were
classified as unintentional.And the vast majority of gun injuries, 72
per cent, also were unintentional, likely caused by mishandling of the
weapons.

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !