I heard something on the radio last night

But I was too tired to look some numbers on childrens injuries caused by firearms. You remember the "ASK" thing in Pediatritians offices?

I came on some interesting numbers from the CDC. Your official government stats. These stats are generally for children 14 and under.

• Child Maltreatment- 2002 estimates 906,000 in some form or the other
• Child passenger restraint- How about 214,00 injured and 1638 killed
• Fireworks- 9,300 went to the emergency room
• Playground injuries- More than 200,000 yearly
• Poisoning- How does 2.2 million in 2000 sound?
• Traumatic brain injuries- an estimated 474,685 yearly
• Drownings and near drownings-3,306 in 2003 with five times that many treated.
• Teen drivers- 2 out of 5 teen deaths are here.
• Youth violence-# In 2004, more than 750,000 young people ages 10 to 24 were treated in emergency departments for injuries sustained due to violence (CDC 2006).~AND~ In 2003, 5,570 young people ages 10 to 24 were murdered—an average of 15 each day. Of these victims, 82% were killed with firearms (CDC 2006).
• How about Dogs?- 4.7 milliom bites per year

The reason I brought these facts up was because of something like this that was on some talk radio last night this morning:

Having a gun in your home, especially if it is not stored properly, can be a significant risk factor for injury and death in children. In fact, firearm related injuries are a leading cause of death in children, and include deaths from unintentional injuries, homicide and suicide.

Between 1994 and 1998, 6,287 children committed suicide with a firearm and an additional 1,896 children were killed by unintentional gun injuries in the United States. All together, 23,776 children under age 19 died from a gun related injury during these years, which is equal to 13 children a day. (source: CDC National Injury Mortality Statistics)
Now we're going from the "up to 14" catagory to 18+ years old,and including ALL injuries for ALL young adults- including the gangbangers who INTEND to shoot other kids.
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It is estimated that there are guns in half of all of the homes in the United States. Although most of these guns are purchased for safety reasons, it is important to keep in mind that a firearm in the home is much more likely (up to 43 times more likely in some reports) to kill or injure a family member or friend than an intruder. According to your CDC stats we oughtta git rid of our dawgs, too

Because of the number of injuries from guns, which many say has reached epidemic levels, programs have been developed to educate parents and children about gun safety. These include the Eddie Eagle gun safety program from the National Rifle Association, which educates children who find a gun to 'Stop! Don't Touch. Leave the Area. Tell an Adult.' The American Academy of Pediatrics also has a 'Keep Your Family Safe from Firearm Injury' program that educates parents about gun safety and advises 'the safest thing is to not have a gun in your home, especially not a handgun.' Epidemic? Like the Bird flu? Everybody, go up and reread thos CDC stats agin, then reread his numbers.
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As the American Academy of Pediatrics states in their book, 'Injury Prevention and Control for Children and Youth,' the 'risks of hangun ownership outweight the benefits.' If you have children in your house, then consider getting rid of your guns. If you must have a gun in the house, then at least learn to store it properly.

Mine ARE properly stored, ThankYouVeryMuch.


First off, the girls have absolutly NO interest in them.
Secondly., they wouldn't know HOW to even start loading the Black Powder ones, and
Third, the Taurus is locked.