Thursday, October 9, 2014

Accidental Poisoning Death is 51 Times More Likely than Accidental Shooting death

Breitbart

The raw figures show there were 600 accidental shooting deaths in 2010, yet there were 30,781 accidental poisoning deaths in that same year. There were 554 accidental shooting deaths in 2009 vs. 31,758 accidental poisoning deaths and 592 accidental shooting deaths in 2008 vs. 31,116 accidental poisoning deaths.

Another way, perhaps a fairer way, to look at this would be to compare accidental and non-accidental poisoning deaths to all gun deaths. That would pretty much even things up, wouldn't it?

But, the real point is, so what?  What's the point? Should we continue to nonchalantly respond to preventable gun deaths just because there are more deadly things out there?

Of course not.  

9 comments:

  1. Like SS these parents are so stupid they don't keep poisons, or guns away from their children.

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  2. "Another way, perhaps a fairer way, to look at this would be to compare accidental and non-accidental poisoning deaths to all gun deaths."

    An interesting idea Mike. One thing that Mr. Hawkins could have also mentioned is whether things are getting worse or better. For example, accidental gun deaths dropped from 824 in 1999 to 591 in 2011. The rate going from .29/100k to .19/100k.
    Poisonings on the other hand went from 12,186 in '99 to 36,280 in '11. The rate nearly tripled from 4.37/100k to 11.58/100k.
    But lets look at the numbers you were interested in. All poisoning deaths went from just under 20,000 in '99 to over 46,000 in '11, the rate doubled in that time going from 7.08/100k to 14.63/100k
    All firearm deaths went from just under 29,000 in '99 to just over 32,000 in '11. While the total rose, the rate actually dropped a bit from 10.3/100k to 10.16/100k.
    I think a doubling of the death rate would be a better indication of nonchalance than a decline, small though it may be.

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    1. I found it surprising there were that many poisoning deaths.

      "I think a doubling of the death rate would be a better indication of nonchalance than a decline, small though it may be."

      Or, they could both be guilty of it.

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  3. Breitbart. Still dead.

    I would have thought accidental poisoning deaths would be significantly higher. Of course, industry has taken steps to reduce poisonings by the use of child-proof caps and the like--things the gun industry won't.

    Of course, the still-dead Breitbart is playing fast and loose with the data as gunloons are wont to do. First, the number of children shot in accidental shootings is undercounted; most states do not consider childrens death certificate data a matter of public record. IOW, many states would merely classify an accidental shooting death of someone under 15 as a homicide.

    Bob Anderson, the chief of the mortality statistics branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, explained that the federal data on firearm deaths are “only as good as the information that comes in.”

    “I try to tell people when they look at the accidental data, particularly for children, you have to recognize it’s an underestimate,” he said.

    Second, the fact is that the vast majority of accidental shooting victims don't die.

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    1. "First, the number of children shot in accidental shootings is undercounted; most states do not consider childrens death certificate data a matter of public record. IOW, many states would merely classify an accidental shooting death of someone under 15 as a homicide."

      Hawkins isn't just talking about children, he's talking about all ages. And as Mike recommended, I also looked at all deaths in my previous comment. This would negate the misclassifying you speak of.
      You do bring up a good point in that most injuries by firearms aren't fatal.

      Between 2001 and 2013 nonfatal poisonings went from just over 742,000 with a rate of 260.26/100k to just over 1.3 million with a rate of 414.59/100k
      Nonfatal firearm injuries during the same period went from 63,012 with a rate of 21.68/100k to 84,258 and a rate of 26.81.
      Nonfatal poisonings not only far exceed firearm injuries in sheer numbers, but they are increasing at almost twice the rate.

      Also I need to apologise, I think I neglected to cite my source in my first comment. Here are cites for both fatal and nonfatal injuries,

      http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/nfirates2001.html


      http://webappa.cdc.gov/cgi-bin/broker.exe

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    2. "Hawkins isn't just talking about children, he's talking about all ages. "

      Understood but you're deflecting. Most accidental shooting deaths involve children--and those are vastly under reported

      Next, you seem to miss the point about most accidental shootings being non-fatal as if this represents some kinf=d of good thing. The point is most accidental poisonings are also non-fatal and for the most part, only involve an upset stomacj with no lasting damage.

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    3. "The point is most accidental poisonings are also non-fatal and for the most part, only involve an upset stomacj with no lasting damage."

      Lets look at that Jade. How about if we say only count poisoning injuries that result in hospitalization. That would likely eliminate the upset stomach cases.
      In 2013, there were just over 408,000 with a rate of 126.83/100k. Still over four times the rate of firearm injuries. Or if we wanted to be more fair, we could compare it to firearms injuries requiring hospitalization, which was just under 46,000 with a rate of 14.36/100k.
      Accidental firearm deaths of children totaled 102 in 2011, just under 20% of all accidental firearm deaths for the year. That percentage is actually probably fairly accurate in spite of the undercounting because the people involved with the misclassification are likely doing it evenly across all ages.

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    4. ~100/600 does not equal "most", Jade.

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    5. SS always drags out his statistics to make the problem seem not as bad as it is. It's his morbid death death count stance.

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