Death by gunshot is the third leading cause of childhood death in the US.

Courtesy of Ars Technica:  

Nearly 1,300 children aged 0 to 17 are killed by gunshots each year in the US, and nearly 5,800 more suffer from non-lethal gunshot wounds, researchers estimate in a study published Monday in Pediatrics.

 In all, about 19 children die or are wounded each day from firearms, either by homicide, suicide, or unintentional shootings. Firearm-related deaths are now the third leading cause of death among US children and the second leading cause of injury-related deaths, behind car crashes. The grim national statistics are even more startling when considered from an international perspective: the US now accounts for 91 percent of all child firearm-related deaths (aged 0 to 14) among high-income countries. 

In addition to the broad figures compiled by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the study also provides one of the most comprehensive looks yet at the factors surrounding those deaths and injuries. 

For the study, researchers tapped into national databases on firearm deaths and nonfatal injuries, including data on gunshots from handguns, rifles, and shotguns. Information was scraped from death certificates, hospital reports, medical examiner reports, and law enforcement reports. The researchers also collected demographic data, such as sex, race/ethnicity, and age.

The latest annual death estimate breaks down to: 53 percent from homicide, 38 percent from suicide, six percent unintentional, and the remaining three percent were either from unknown intentions or legal intervention. Boys made up 82 percent of those fatally shot, and older children (aged 13 to 17) were 12 times more likely to die from firearms than younger children (0 to 12). 

African American children were the demographic most likely to be killed by firearms, while white and Native American children are the most likely to take their own lives with a gun of some type.

It should also be noted that while firearm homicides and accidental deaths have gone down, that gun suicides have gone up.

It is also worth mentioning that 91% of the children killed by guns in high income countries, have died in the United States of America.

If there were any terrorist organization in the world that was murdering even thirteen of our children every year, we would mobilize our entire military to wipe them out.

But this is 1,300 of our babies, killed by instruments of death that adults bring into their homes to protect them.

When do we pass some laws and spend some money to help keep them safe?

Study finds that states that vote conservative and have a higher ratio of gun ownership also tend to have more suicides. Filed under "Things that make perfect sense."

Courtesy of Science Daily:  

With few exceptions, states with the highest rates of gun ownership -- for example, Alaska, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Alabama, and West Virginia -- also tended to have the highest suicide rates. These states were also carried overwhelmingly by George Bush in the 2000 presidential election.

Leaving aside the idea of voting for George Bush and the desire to commit suicide aside for right now, I think the study certainly makes sense in that people who have more access to guns usually choose THAT as their method for ending it all.

And as the study also points out; "Many studies show that of all suicide methods, firearms have the highest case fatality, implying that an individual who selects this technique has a very low chance of survival."

I can say one thing for sure, I live in Alaska, and we have tons of conservatives. as well as easy access to guns. and our suicide rate is the highest in the nation.

The study goes on to say; "Even modest efforts to reform gun laws are typically met with vehement opposition. There are also millions of Americans who continue to believe that keeping a gun at home protects them against intruders, even though research shows that when a gun is used in the home, it is often against household members in the commission of homicides or suicides,"

Yeah I am guessing this study is not going to be embraced by the Right Wing anytime soon. Still it DOES provide a little more ammunition, if you will pardon the pun, for those looking to restrict access to guns in this country.

H/T to Mediaite.

In yet another blow to NRA talking points report shows that background checks for gun sales can dramatically reduce the number of suicides.

Courtesy of Mother Jones:  

US military brass have been spending a lot of time and money looking at how best to reduce the suicide rate among US troops, which has skyrocketed in recent years. They have concluded that it's false to assume that people intent on killing themselves will find a way to do it even if they can't get a gun. 

In a report to Congress in July, the Military Suicide Research Consortium noted that "Studies demonstrate that method substitution is rare." That's why simple things that can delay access to a gun, like mandatory background checks for all handgun purchases—including private sales—like those that would be required by a new bill recently passed by a Senate committee, can make a big difference in preventing suicide. States with such a requirement have a gun suicide rate 50 percent lower than states that don't, even when their non-gun suicide rates are about the same. 

One reason this holds true is that, research shows, suicide is often an impulsive act, and one that people haven't given much thought. That's especially true in gun suicides, where the majority of victims don't have a documented serious mental illness. If some in a crisis simply can't access a gun quickly, they may not try suicide at all, or they may try a less-lethal means that offers more chance that they'll be saved. And most people who survive a suicide attempt don't go on to take their own lives at a later time.

 In other words it is not preventing those with a previously diagnosed mental health condition from getting guns (The option promoted by the NRA) that prevents suicides, it is providing a waiting period for ALL gun buyers that gives the temporarily unbalanced the opportunity to rethink their decision and make a better choice.

No wonder they say that facts have a liberal bias.

Lawrence O'Donnell disusses the heart wrenching number of LGBT teen suicides in Michele Bachmann's district.

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There is no excuse for children to feel isolated because of their sexuality any more than it is okay to do so in response to their skin color or their gender.

Adults should understand that, and take great pains to be accessible to the students who are reaching out for help.

Fort Worth city councilman talks about painful past and tells suicidal gay teens that "it gets better."

I am going to forewarn you that I watched this on Lawrence O'Donnell's "The Last Word" yesterday and found myself overcome with emotion several times.

However it is a VERY important speech for people to hear in order to help us understand the pain these young men and women are going through. And since Joel Burns bravely told his extremely painful story to the world in order to help these kids, the least we can do is give him twelve minutes of our day to listen.

Right wing religious groups fight against anti-bullying legislation for fear that it promotes an acceptance of homosexuality. Are you thinking "WTF?" Yeah, me too.

From Think Progress:

Last week, Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi jumped to his death after two classmates secretly recorded his sexual relationship with a man and broadcasted it over the internet. Tragically, Clementi marks the fourth gay student to commit suicide in three weeks because of anti-gay harassment from fellow students. Seth Walsh, 13, Asher Brown, 13, and Billy Lucas, 15, also took their own lives last month because fellow students bullied them in school.

Many states across the country are taking laudable steps to enact measures that bolster administrators’ ability to protect students who face such harassment. However, despite the evidence supporting the need, right-wing lawmakers and activists insist that anti-bullying measures are nothing more than insidious tools of the “homosexual agenda”:

– The American Family Association of Michigan has spent years decrying a proposed anti-bullying measure as “a Trojan Horse to sneak [homosexual activists'] special rights agenda into law” and to “legitimize homosexual behavior” which is “a practice scientifically proven to result in a dramatically higher incidence of domestic violence, mental illness, illegal drug use, promiscuity, life-threatening disease, and premature death.” The bill “died in 2008 in the state Senate because senators could not agree” on whether to address bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the measure.

– In Minnesota, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer said he would not sign the anti-bullying Safe Schools For All bill because “I don’t want the government” instead of parents to be on “the front line of defense of our children.” Indeed, Emmer voted against and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) vetoed the same bill in 2009 after the right-wing Minnesota Family Council pushed legislators to reject the bill in 2009 because it would “promote acceptance of homosexuality.”

– The right-wing Christian media ministry Focus on the Family is attacking an anti-bullying standard on the federal level. Insisting that bullying prevention is being “hijacked by activists” who are “politicizing or sexualizing the issue,” Focus on the Family’s Candi Cushman claims that the anti-bullying bill currently before Congress “cater[s] to a narrow political agenda” that “becomes a gateway for homosexuality promotion in school.” In their current back-to-school guide “equipping” parents with tools against the “sneaky” gay agenda, Cushman told parents to look out for bullying seminars, diversity lessons, and “cute little pictures of furry animals” as “red flags” signaling the “gay agenda.”

If this were forty, to forty five, years ago how many of us believe that the argument then would have been "The anti-bullying agenda is being hi-jacked by racial equality activists?"  Same argument, just targeting a different minority.

Obviously this is ridiculous and feeds into the Fundamentalist's idea that homosexuality is contagious and that the more accepted it is the more likely that the gays will be viewed as equal to the breeders that are now the dominant force in America.  And doesn't THAT remind you of the Teabagger's fear of brown people coming over the border in Mexico, their fear of Socialism replacing Capitalism in our government, and their barely contained rage at the African American sitting in the White House?

It seems like everything that drives these groups is fear of change.  Fear that what they have always seen as "normal" will be forever altered and that they will no longer be able to victimize groups different then their own like they did back in the "good old days,"  Did you ever notice that the "good old days" seemed to be much better for the white males in this country over every other demographic?

"Hey Frank!  Remember how we used to be able to make those lewd jokes around the break room, without fear of one of these skirts accusing us of sexual harassment?  Yep, them was the good old days alright!"

Sadly it is natural for the dominant groups to harass and bully, and even kill, those different from themselves.  We see that same savagery play out in the animal world all of the time.

However the difference is that we are self aware.  We can choose to resist our natural instincts, and learn to accept, and even care, about those who are not exactly like us. That is what makes us human. And for those of you with faith in the bible, I am sure you have read that humans were made in God's image, therefore to use the abilities that God bestowed on his children is to honor God, don't you think?

I would think that if EVERY Christian stopped for just a minute, and asked themselves "How would Jesus treat this person?" That it would fundamentally change our county, hell even our world, for the better.

Or am I simply misunderstanding the message that Jesus tried to teach mankind?

If the goal of the surge was to increase the number of suicides among the active duty military then it has indeed been working.

Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980, according to a draft internal study obtained by The Washington Post. Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006.

At the same time, the number of attempted suicides or self-inflicted injuries in the Army has jumped sixfold since the Iraq war began. Last year, about 2,100 soldiers injured themselves or attempted suicide, compared with about 350 in 2002, according to the U.S. Army Medical Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan.

I have said it before but it bears repeating, that it seems for all the world as if George W. Bush has been trying to destroy our American fighting force since he first came to office.

I am simply amazed that a man with John McCain's background has not slammed the policies of this administration utilizing every media outlet at his disposal until he has shamed them into bringing these brave men and women home.

I guess the siren song of a potential Presidency is too loud for him to hear his conscience.

CBS News reports on "stunning" number of hidden military suicides.

Tonight CBS will air the first of a two-part series on the "hidden epidemic" of military suicides, revealing numbers that CBS calls "stunning." The report examines data on the suicide rate amongst veterans once they return home, which indicates a serious mental health issue — and a hidden mortality rate.

"We first started researching military suicides because it had never been done before," said Armen Keteyian, CBS News' chief investigative correspondent in a statement forwarded by CBS News. "But when all the data was collected, we were astonished. I had no idea how much of an epidemic CBS uncovered. We expect this to be a wake up call."

"At least 120 Americans who served in the U.S. military killed themselves per week in 2005, CBS News learned in a five-month investigation into veteran suicides. That's 6,256 veteran suicides in one year, in 45 states."

The policies of George Bush seemed dedicated to the murder of our military members.

He sends them into harms way. If they survive the first tour of duty they know they will be asked to go back again, and if they survive they go again, and again, and again. It is almost like the only way for a soldier to end his fear of being rotated through Iraq or Afghanistan again is to just take his own life before the enemy can do it.

But nobody pays any attention to the man, or woman, who simply cannot take the stress of wondering when their number is up. But these soldiers are casualties of war just as surely as the platoon sergeant who meets his end by an IED or snipers bullet.

And for those who do not die in Iraq or take their own lives, what of them? Are they still whole? Did they come back in one piece? Even if they are not physically wounded, are their minds untouched by the experience? They may be the most heartrending casualties of all.

Do you remember the Marlboro soldier?

The legacy of George Bush does not fall on historians to determine. We can do it right now. He has destroyed our country's reputation, bankrupted our nation, destroyed our military, and that may not even be the worst of it.