An American politician has been arrested in Hong Kong for carrying a gun into the city, according to a charge sheet seen by CNN, in what he has called an “honest mistake.”
I’m only skeptical because the last time I heard this claim, when I looked into the study it turned out to only be true if you massaged the data to the point of the headline basically being a lie (it was like, combine all gun homicide, suicide, and accidental deaths but split vehicle accidents and pedestrian collisions into separate categories because vehicle deaths was still larger), but that could have been pre-covid data.
Looking into this one it seems like covid (these are 2021 numbers) might have lowered vehicle deaths and raised gun homicide/suicide enough for it to actually be the leading cause without fudging any numbers, although I’m struggling to find the exact methodology used (the CDC’s website isn’t exactly the most navigable on a phone)
The study also defines children as 1-19 year olds. 0-1 isn’t considered (which is a big number of deaths that aren’t guns) and 18-19 shouldn’t be considered because they aren’t legally kids. However, if you leave 18-19 out then you don’t get the benefit of skewing the data with more gang violence.
I sorta get not including 0-1 since the top two spots become dominated by perinatal complications and congenital defects
Now that I’m on my computer and have messed around with their data display tool a bit, lemme see if I can break it down a bit further, all data will be from the latest year in the set, 2021, for simplicity:
Top 3 Death Cause 1-19: Firearm (4,733), Cars (4,048), Poisoning (2,079)
Top 3 Death Cause 1-17: Firearm (2,571), Cars (2,348), “All Other Diseases” (1,495)
Almost half of firearm and car accident deaths are happening to 18 and 19 year olds in this data it seems, poisoning is much further down now with only 800 or so, perhaps this category includes alcohol and drug related overdose deaths which must effect 18 and 19 year olds at a higher rate?
Top 3 Death Cause 1-19 (Minus “Black or African American”): Cars (3,167), Firearm (2,374), Poisoning (1,758)
Top 3 Death Cause 1-17 (Minus “Black or African American”): Cars (1,789), Firearm (1,357), Cancer (1,181)
As the article linked as the source of data states, black children (and young adults) have a far higher chance of dying a firearm related death (roughly 8 to 9 times higher per 100,000 than other races), I feel like a lot more focus should be put there (hopefully without any racist undertones)
I’m only skeptical because the last time I heard this claim, when I looked into the study it turned out to only be true if you massaged the data to the point of the headline basically being a lie (it was like, combine all gun homicide, suicide, and accidental deaths but split vehicle accidents and pedestrian collisions into separate categories because vehicle deaths was still larger), but that could have been pre-covid data.
Looking into this one it seems like covid (these are 2021 numbers) might have lowered vehicle deaths and raised gun homicide/suicide enough for it to actually be the leading cause without fudging any numbers, although I’m struggling to find the exact methodology used (the CDC’s website isn’t exactly the most navigable on a phone)
The study also defines children as 1-19 year olds. 0-1 isn’t considered (which is a big number of deaths that aren’t guns) and 18-19 shouldn’t be considered because they aren’t legally kids. However, if you leave 18-19 out then you don’t get the benefit of skewing the data with more gang violence.
I sorta get not including 0-1 since the top two spots become dominated by perinatal complications and congenital defects
Now that I’m on my computer and have messed around with their data display tool a bit, lemme see if I can break it down a bit further, all data will be from the latest year in the set, 2021, for simplicity:
Top 3 Death Cause 1-19: Firearm (4,733), Cars (4,048), Poisoning (2,079)
Top 3 Death Cause 1-17: Firearm (2,571), Cars (2,348), “All Other Diseases” (1,495)
Almost half of firearm and car accident deaths are happening to 18 and 19 year olds in this data it seems, poisoning is much further down now with only 800 or so, perhaps this category includes alcohol and drug related overdose deaths which must effect 18 and 19 year olds at a higher rate?
Top 3 Death Cause 1-19 (Minus “Black or African American”): Cars (3,167), Firearm (2,374), Poisoning (1,758)
Top 3 Death Cause 1-17 (Minus “Black or African American”): Cars (1,789), Firearm (1,357), Cancer (1,181)
As the article linked as the source of data states, black children (and young adults) have a far higher chance of dying a firearm related death (roughly 8 to 9 times higher per 100,000 than other races), I feel like a lot more focus should be put there (hopefully without any racist undertones)
A 100% reasonable perspective.