Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.politics.org.misc,misc.headlines
From: [an 65691] at [anon.penet.fi] ("rocksteady")
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 1994 08:40:40 UTC
Subject: Cdc is sick


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information, call: Tom Wyld, NRA Public Affairs

January 28, 1994

703-267-3820

CDC:  ACCIDENTS EQUAL DELIBERATE ACTS

NRA NOTES ABSURDITY OF LATEST CDC "FINDINGS"

Washington, D. C. -- When a doctor can't tell the difference between an
accident and an intentional act, it's time to get a second opinion.

That's the suggestion of the National Rifle Association of America on
the introduction by Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala
of the latest pseudo-scientific bid by the Centers for Disease Control
to promote banning handgun ownership in America -- a political  campaign
CDC has waged using taxpayer dollars since the 1980s.

"Flawed and misleading," said Dr. Paul Blackman of the latest CDC study.
Research Coordinator for NRA's Institute for Legislative Action,
Blackman added:  "CDC compared motor-vehicle fatalities -- the vast
majority of which are accidents -- to firearms- related fatalities --
the vast majority of which are deliberate."  Blackman also noted:

- CDC researchers believe that restrictive gun control is the way to
reduce deliberate gun-related deaths, such as homicides.  Yet, the
majority of the jurisdictions CDC looked at have highly restrictive gun
laws (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Cali fornia and -- where
handguns are banned -- the District of Columbia).

- Compare accidents to accidents using CDC's own data, and motor
vehicles account for 49% -- and firearms 1.6% -- of all accidental
deaths.

-  Gun-related accidental fatalities have declined more sharply than
fatal motor-vehicle accidents.  The fatal firearms accident rate
declined 50% between 1968 to 1991 -- while the motor vehicle accident
rate declined only 37%.

- Gun-related accidental deaths have declined more sharply than work,
home and other public accidents.

- Motor vehicles are involved in twenty-times as many injuries and
deaths as firearms and generate more than ten times the medical costs.

"The most dramatic increases in firearm-related deaths have occurred
since the CDC began focusing on controlling firearms as a public health
issue," Blackman concluded.  "Instead, we should focus on controlling
predatory criminals as a public safety imperative."

                                        - n r a -

                Downloaded from GUN-TALK (703-719-6406)
                A service of the
                National Rifle Association
                Institute for Legislative Action
                Washington, DC 20036

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