A new advertising campaign by the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence claims that every day in the United States eight “kids” die or are injured by unintentional gunshot wounds. There’s just one problem: it isn’t true.
According to the CDC statistics they cite, the actual number of children (0-17) unintentionally killed or injured by gunshot wounds every day is closer to four. While still a tragically high number, it’s nowhere near the statistic they repeat here, here, here, and here.
To reach the eight-children-per-day threshold, 18 and 19-year-old adults must also be included in the data set. In that case, the number is just shy of eight per day.
We contacted the Brady Campaign via email, and they admitted to using the 0-19 range. When we asked why they included adults in their ad about “kids,” they said they used that age range because 18 and 19-year-olds still have access to their parents’ homes.
“We chose to include 18 and 19 year olds in our statistic because the majority of them either still live with their parents or have access to their parents home,” said Kyleanne Hunter, VP of programs at the Brady Center and co-founder of Vets for Gun Reform. “They may legally be able to purchase a firearm from a store, but if they have access to an unlocked and loaded gun in their parents’ home there’s a greater risk of unintentional injury.”
The data comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s WISQARS reporting system, which includes categories for fatal and non-fatal injury reports. The Brady Campaign calculated their stat by averaging the data from 2011-2015 for non-fatal gun injuries and 2012-2016 for fatal gun injuries.
The reporting system is easy to use. In our analysis, we filtered the data by intent or manner of injury (unintentional), cause or mechanism of injury (firearm), years reported (2011-2015 non-fatal, 2012-2016 fatal), and age range (>1-17). We’ve posted screen shots below.
Data from the CDC’s Fatal Injury Data reporting system: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal.html
Data from the CDC’s Non-Fatal Injury Data reporting system: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/nonfatal.html
If those numbers are added together and divided by 5 (per year) and 365 (per day), the resulting number is 4.44 children unintentionally killed or injured by a firearm per day.
If the data set is expanded to include 18 and 19-year-olds, the number jumps to 7.83.
Data from the CDC’s Fatal Injury Data reporting system: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal.html
Data from the CDC’s Non-Fatal Injury Data reporting system: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/nonfatal.html
Conversely, if the data set is restricted to children of the age represented in the ad (0-10), the number drops precipitously. In that age range, 1.003 children are unintentionally injured or killed per day with a firearm. For perspective, about 1.3 children (0-10) per day unintentionally drowned over that same time period.
Data from the CDC’s Fatal Injury Data reporting system: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal.html
Data from the CDC’s Non-Fatal Injury Data reporting system: https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/nonfatal.html
SEE ALSO: Brady Campaign PSA ‘Guns Don’t Kill People, Toddlers Kill People’
Brady spokespeople told NBC News that this campaign is designed to find common ground with gun owners.
“In the gun violence conversation, gun owners were largely missing,” Hunter said. “This is completely outside the realm of politics. It’s not red state, blue state — it’s families who want to do what’s best to protect the most vulnerable.”
Gun owners agree that firearms should be stored safely, and even though the Brady Campaign uses misleading stats, the true numbers are still tragic. But pro-gun organizations like the National Shooting Sports Foundation have been promoting safe gun storage for decades. Since 1999, NSSF’s Project Childsafe has worked to encourage and empower gun owners to store firearms securely, and their efforts have succeeded: according to the CDC, fatal firearm accidents have declined 24 percent between 2006 and 2015.
If organizations like the Brady Campaign really want to reach across the aisle, they’ll partner with organizations like the NSSF rather than using trumped-up statistics to mislead the public.
We aren’t holding our breath.
Those that report statistics control the who, what and where. Just because it’s said or printed doesn’t make it so. Agendas have a way of slanting the narrative only to those too lazy to research the truth.
First , the overwhelming majority of the youth “accidental” gun injuries are caused by illegal guns being possessing in home by people ineligible to own them. When some ghetto gangbanger is shooting at a rival, but hits baby Toodles on the playground, there’s your “accident”. When section * dwelling convicted felon leaves his illegal gat in the couch and it is found by junior, boom, another stat.
For any meaningful analysis, they need to parse out guns that are illegally owner or used. The stats for the average NRA member or licensed CC citizen would be far lower than the numbers even this article states.
Left fingers let us talk about child deaths, hum the ones with no defense from the ones killing them as they try to dodge the instruments 🎺 taking them from their mothers womb as they are getting ready to come into this wicked world! God forbid you talk this crap about protecting children when you and your murdering left wing thugs kill unborn babies by the 100s of thousands every week week after week under the guise of planned parenthood, millions have been killed and you selling their body parts, you warped sick minded (I almost wrote people) thugs may you get your rewards in the fiery lake , Gods book tells you what you can look forward to, when he says you better not harm one of his children, Even God might not have thought that off spring of Cain could be so cruel , man you burn me up. Can I get more Amens than hate mail from the brothers of Hitler!
“Dad can I play with your gun?”
“NO SON NEVER-but we can go shooting on Saturday. How about that?”
“You really want to take me outside and teach me a life lesson?”
“YES Son! I love you enough to show and teach you about “reality.” What guns are capable of, so that you can distinguish real life from Video Game Fantasy. Son, never take unnecessary risks, never turn your back on safety, and never believe everything you see on t.v., the internet, or especially social media!!!”
My sons were taught properly at a young age that they should not go near my firearms without my instructions. They were taught how to use them, and they understood. The curiosity was gone, and they had respect for the guns.
As a note, I thought my wife to shoot, and she insisted that the children needed to learn respect for firearms since I had them.
There were no secrets about them.
These people are mentally deficient, they can take the fake stats and propaganda and shove it right up their asses.
Well any one who uses common sense KNOWS BEYOND DOUBT THAT THE BRADY GUN CONTROL REGIME is nothing but a BUNCH OF LIARS WHO USE INUENDO AND HALF TRUTHS TO PUSH THEIR AGENDA. JUST LIKE GABBY GIFFORDS, NANCY PELOSI, DIANNE FEINSTEIN, HUSSEIN OBAMA et al.!!
They make these ads which is aimed at the law abiding citizen. We are there escape goats to show the public something is being done why use the legal person respinsible??? BECAUSE these do nothing politicians are clueless on disarming the criminal.
If they included 18 to 19 year olds why not include 21 to 30 as well. They most likely still live at home. For that matter who doesn’t have access to their parents home so why not include everybody.
figures lie and liars figure…
Many 20-30 year olds have access, too…come on.
And how many in that SAME age group die from drownings…OD on prescriptions meds…die from poisonings (household chemicals)…in the same time period?
Yes…guns should be locked up away from children…
perhaps we need to mandate locking medicine cabinets, laundry room storage cabinets…kitchen/household cabinets…garage/pool cabinets…
…gas cans, lighters, stoves, refrigerators, washing machines, mowers. weed eaters, chainsaws, hedge clippers, loose hanging family photos on the wall could fall, gas fireplace, need to fence off all trees,play grounds, swing set, No more playing baseball, No more playing football, in fact no more sports, lock up any stick bigger than a twig and even then you could probable get stabbed with one, scissors, pencils, pens, anything heavy enough to knock you silly, rope, shoe strings, yarn, floss, tooth brush, gallon or bigger bags, block off all stair cases, no more power anything you could be shocked, No Food of any type sold bigger than a pea you could choke, no peanuts, eggs, kill off all bees, any and all glass, any and most plastic, any and all metal, rubber hose, IF WE CAN MAKE THE WORLD A GIANT PILLOW WE COULD ALL BE SAFE!!! Oh wait! …lightning, ozone, rivers, lakes, creeks, streams, wild fires, avalanches, ice, sink holes, tsunami, meteor, alien, big foot, yeti, werewolves, Dracula, Frankenstein, the wicked witch, and every animal, bug, parasite, or sickness…………… AND I BET SOMEONE CAN STILL FIND A WAY TO HARM THEMSELVES OR OTHERS
I see nothing wrong with this ad. In fact, the parents of minors should be held responsible for any actions the kids take. My dad hid \”our \” gun in his sock drawer with the ammo rolling around next to it. Luckily I was brought up at a young age on how to use a firearm. With all the rapid safes out there now, there is no excuse!
I have to agree with you.
You really think a “kid” (0-19) can’t figure out your code or where you keep the extra bracelet to your speed safe? Like you said teach your kids gun safety to dispel the curiosity. Don’t get me wrong, I have my guns in safes. However this ad isn’t selling real common sense safety. It’s trying to scare more people into more regulation!
So you want the safe storage laws that they have in Australia? Firearm is disassembled and locked in two different safes with the ammunition in a separate the third safe. Good luck getting your gun assembled in time. Hope you have five minutes or longer to unlock the safes, assemble your firearm and get the firearm loaded. And we should also have police searches in our homes to verify the guns are stored in the legal manner prescribed by law. (This is what they do in Australia as well.) This is what the tyrant politicians want along with a five round magazine limitation because no one ever needs more than five shots of ammunition in a gun fight.
Meanwhile the tyrants are armed by body guards around the clock armed with semi automatic pistols with twelve to fifteen round magazines and semi automatic rifles with standard capacity thirty round magazines. Go ahead and keep buying the lies. Brady Campaign liars will not be happy until all of our guns are illegal and we are at the whims of tyrants. We do not need anymore laws on the books, we just need to enforce the laws we already have.
This version of Brady is the updated ‘If it saves 1 life’. It’s spoken by the same folks that cheer ‘Abortion’ as Planned Parenhood ‘Choice’… if it’s Abortion. The beliefs that are inconsistent, liars that figure, ‘Do Not Care About Truth’. These folks will do anything and say anything even to friends they think won’t care about truth. We do care about truth!
Doug
Do something effective. Sue them for Deformation
Does that include all the HS dropouts involved in gang activity. More skewed data meant to cause fear amongst the general population. Propaganda 101 stuff.
And another thing, the claim that gun owners are “largely missing” in the ‘gun violence’ ‘debate’ is ANOTHER piece of misinformation, cleverly designed to incense the ignorant and rile them to support a ban.
I’m 58, and still have ‘access’ to my Fathers house. Sooo, I’m a “kid”????
The Brady Campaign is a monument to propaganda like few others.
Just like an old boss of mine use to say “figures don’t lie, BUT LIAR’S FIGURE”!
All these”Gun” injuries and deaths. If those children would have been aborted they would never have been hurt by a gun.
Made up Stats? No way! This is the truth and has been for a long time. no surprises here! The old adage of “Tell the lies long enough and often enough and people will believe it” usually rings true!
“…or have access to their parents [sic] home”??? I’m in my 60’s and still have access to my parents’ home though I haven’t lived there in over 40 years. Yippee!!! I’m still KID!!!
So you guys caught the Brady bunch spreading misleading facts. Wow. I guess that’s why you call it “News AND Reviews” because concocting convoluted facts to fit their agenda is that’s all that group has ever been doing.
This is an all to common scenario on many fronts in our culture today. How many times in the media do we hear statistics (radio/TV) or read them and simply accept them without asking the question “Why are they telling me this and is it credible?” Call it too busy with life or simple intellectual laziness but there are so many swallow the statistics they read or hear as true and correct.
Brady Campaign composed of useful idiots, liars, radicals & communist money. “America cannot be taken unless it’s dis-armed”.
Those statistics and the manner in which they were used or interpreted just goes to prove that ‘statics can be made to show what ever the user wants them to say/show’.
That is what the left does; misinformation, half-truths, made-up facts, and faux statistics.
BINGO
That is what the media does….this one included. But this one falls into my beliefs most of the time so it is OK. “Don’t believe anything you r hear and only half what you see!” Will Rogers…