NSSF CHALLENGES FIREARMS
INJURY NEWS STORY . . . A Reuters Health wire service story last week
dutifully reported that a statistical review of injuries at emergency
rooms in a representative sample of America’s hospitals proved it was
easy access to guns that caused kids to be injured. NSSF analyzed the
numbers reported by the Centers for Disease Control and revealed that
non-fatal firearms injuries actually showed a dramatic and consistently
reduced rate according to the CDC figures in the selected years, a
37.8% decrease between 1993 and 1997. Adding in figures from 1998 would
have shown a 43% drop! NSSF also uncovered a pretty liberal definition
of what constitutes a firearms injury. The CDC report included pistol
whippings by criminals, plus scope-eye and other injury from recoil.
Even injuries sustained while cleaning a firearm (M-1 Garand thumb or a
cut sustained on the sharp edge of a machined part) were included with
powder burns and actual penetrating wounds from bullets. A release of
NSSF’s analysis is being forwarded to Reuteurs and other media, and can
be found at http://www.nssf.org/
then follow the links to news.