How reliable are your statistics?
This is what I found when I googled "Children shot in America" and "Children drowned in swimming pools in America":
In 2001, 859 children ages 14 and under died as a result of unintentional drowning
The figures are from
http://www.usa.safekids.org/NSKW.cfm. I also found this:
In a single year, 3,012 children and teens were killed by gunfire in the United States, according to the latest national data released in 2002.
The figures are from
http://www.neahin.org/programs/schoolsafety/gunsafety/statistics.htm. Yes, I realize that this site talks about children
and teens, and many of the dead youngsters are going to be teens, 18 or 19 years old.
However, this site also makes these claims:
In one year, firearms killed no children in Japan, 19 in Great Britain, 57 in Germany, 109 in France, 153 in Canada, and 5,285 in the United States. (Centers for Disease Control)
And it said this:
In one year, more children and teens died from gunfire than from cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, and HIV/AIDS combined. (Children's Defense Fund)
And it said this:
The rate of firearm deaths among kids under age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
American kids are 16 times more likely to be murdered with a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from a firearm accident than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined. (Centers for Disease Control)
It's up to you Americans to decide if you think that all these firearm deaths among youngsters are worth it, or if you think that even more kids would die if guns were harder to come by in your country.
But I really think you should think twice before you say that not many people are killed by guns in the United States.
Ann
EDIT: Okay, I found the figures you referred to. It says that there are six million swimming pools in the United States, but 200 million guns. It also says that in 1997, 550 children under ten drowned in residential swimming pools, whereas, in 1998, 175 children under ten were killed by guns.
That is certainly possible. The younger the child, the more likely it is that the child can't swim and will drown as he or she falls into a swimming pool. Growing older will make the child safer. (Also, pool safety has generally improved: according to the site I found, drowning deaths of children in pools are down by about 40%.)
Well, getting older will certainly not make a child safer from guns. Nevertheless, we should all have our crusades, and if anyone wants to dig up and fill in all residential swimming pools in the United States, by all means take on that noble fight!
Ann