[108257] in Cypherpunks
Re: Fwd: NEWS - USA NSC declares hunting safer than ping pong
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jean-Francois Avon)
Tue Feb 9 22:44:11 1999
From: "Jean-Francois Avon" <jf_avon@citenet.net>
To: "mgraffam@idsi.net" <mgraffam@idsi.net>
Cc: "Axworthy Lloyd L. the Hon. Foreign Affairs Minister" <Axworthy.L@parl.gc.ca>,
"Cypherpunks" <cypherpunks@toad.com>,
"Hon Anne McLellan mp Minister of Justice" <McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca>,
"=?iso-8859-1?q?Le_Qu=E9becois_Libre?=" <libre@colba.net>,
"=?iso-8859-1?q?Le_Qu=E9becois_Libre?=" <libre@colba.net>,
"Martin.P@parl.gc.ca" <Martin.P@parl.gc.ca>,
"Patry Bernard depute Dollars-Pierrefonds" <Patry.B@parl.gc.ca>,
"=?iso-8859-1?q?Soci=E9t=E9_Radio_Canada,_auditoire?=" <auditoire@montreal.src.ca>
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 22:16:15 -0500
Reply-To: "Jean-Francois Avon" <jf_avon@citenet.net>
As I already replied to you, *I* did not put out theses statistics.
Second, my personnal experience with accidents involving firearms:
1) a kid that was "studying" firearms for a school report had the shot go away
"by itself". Damages: the fireplace stack required 500$ of work. It happened
at least twenty years ago.
2) a kid (young teenager) teasing another one with a .410 gun and menacing to
shoot him, while the other dared him. They both believed that the gun was not
loaded. It was. The one on the business end of it got shot right in the face
at point blank (about 6 ft). He survived, slightly disfigured but nothing
critical. This accident had the good effect of giving a lot of respect for
firearms to the whole 250 inhabitant village. The victim finished his
university education and is today a happily married father. It happened at
least twenty years ago.
3) two guys were hunting together, walking in short bush about 30 ft apart. A
grouse took of between the two. One of them was especially dumb. By reflex,
he swung his 12 ga. and took the shot in the air, killing the bird between the
two of them. The other guy was hit by a single lead pelled in the side of his
eye, the pellet followed the eye well and stopped at the rear. He was
conducted to the hospital and had the lead pellet removed. His eye was
intact. It happened approximately eighteen years ago.
4) A guy with a legally owned handgun was practicing quickdraws. The guy, a
white collar worker was a family man but he was being a bit overenthusiastic
with his gun. Not in any way dangerous for others (he built himself a very
safe firing range in his house. One day, he was practicing quick draw but he
hit the trigger while the gun was still in his holster. The bulled perforated
his trouser leg, and went through the side of his boot. He was white as a
ghost. The only harm he had was minute traces of burnt leg hair and powder
traces. He never did it again.
Either I know the actors of thoses accidents personnally, or I know somebody
who knows them first hand.
In all of htoses cases, young excited guys were involved.
I have an extended family of over 200 peoples. I am in regular contact with
over 100 hunters that I know personnally. Theses stories are the kind that
get told around the fire in the evening.
These are the ONLY one I've ever heard of and I am hunting since age 6 (with
my father up until the legal age).
By contrast, I've heard _firsthand_ of much more harm caused by ski! Compute
it in anyway, by loss of revenue, by incapacitation, by number of death, by
_anything_! And I know as many people hunting as people skiing!
Peoples are under the impression that firearms accidents are always lethal.
Being hit by a bullet produces a wound that cauterize and that often, will
remain sterile and heal by itself, while being hit by an arrow almost
invariably infects and cause long, agonizing death. The same is true for
animals that are "missed" during hunting.
Most peoples who were not raised with firearms fear them and consider them as
dangerous, just as most peoples who never decided to fly consider light
airplanes risky.
But contrary to what the mediatization of such accidents tend to make the
general public believe, only a small number of all aircraft accidents are
mortal, and only a small number of firearms accidents are mortal.
But why bother with the facts when feelings feel so good?
Ciao
jfa
On Tue, 9 Feb 1999 17:52:47 -0500 (EST), mgraffam@idsi.net wrote:
>On Tue, 9 Feb 1999, Jean-Francois Avon wrote:
>
>> Mandatory hunter education courses throughout the United States is
>> credited with dramatically reducing the number of hunting accidents
>> in the last 30 years, making it eight times safer than bowling.
>
>While I appreciate the sentiment that this report tries to foster, these
>claims are really a bunch of crap.
>
>While hunting accidents may be rare, when those rare accidents happen,
>they can be a lot more serious than bruising your foot, or hitting your
>knee with a bowling ball.
>
>So, we _may_ have 8 bumps and bruises per gunshot wound (the sort of
>injuries that are sustained in either case are not mentioned) .. I'll
>take the 8 bumps and bruises myself.
>
>There is also the question of data analysis. When you ask a hunter,
>"have you ever been hurt while hunting?" the person may not even think
>about the cuts and scrapes incurred by thorn bushes or the like, which
>may be on par with the injuries sustained by bowling.
>
>Now, if this report talks about injuries requiring _hospitalization_ this
>would be a far different story, and I'd be rather pleased to see such
>numbers.
>
>Until then, as always, 87% of statistics is bullshit :)
>
>Michael J. Graffam (mgraffam@idsi.net)
>I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not
>desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.
> Henry David Thoreau "Civil Disobedience"
>
>
