I saw this and thought it would pertain to some of the recent discussions we have been having here. This was posted by Wes von Papineäu on the venomous forum, and I hope he doesn't ming me reposting it here. Obviously, data like this must be taken with a grain of salt, but I think it puts some things into perspective. You have to remember how many more gun owners there are compared to hot owners, but I still think the fact that no child has ever been bitten by hots kept at home is a powerful figure.
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=846334,846337
Dear Hot-philes;
The following is a follow-up to Brett’s kind invitation (I think its fair to say that... - lateralis, Jul 11, 2005) to muck about in my archives to find what is available on children being bitten/harmed/killed by ‘hot’s kept at home (as aside from incidents involving wild animals)
A press check back to 1994 did not give me much to work with, so I had to ‘hit the books; I consulted about 35 “serious” guns-and-children and venomous-bites sites for data … and pulled snippits from the ones I understand best. I’ll ask your trust that I don’t have a drum to beat here … I am both hot and gun friendly … though in no way experienced with the first.
Basically, there is NO press reports of any children being bitten by hots kept at home back to 1994. There are some python/boa/lizard bite events … but nothing involving hots.
A quick sweep of various guns-at-home-and-children sites and venom-treatment sites have resulted in a variety of interesting numbers. I’ve looted some numbers from various sites and jammed them together in paragraphs to illustrate the various points. Numbers flutuate a bit from year-to-year, but the trends are solid ... to wit ...
Gunfire killed 4,643 U.S. infants, children and teens in 1996, alarming figures, yet still the lowest American gun death toll since 1989. In 1998, 2,215 children and teenagers were murdered with guns, 1,241 committed suicide with guns, and 336 died in unintentional shootings. A total of 3,792 young people were killed by firearms. In 1999, there were 3,385 firearms-related deaths for children ages 0–19 years. They break down as follows: 214 unintentional, 1,078 suicides, 1,990 homicides, 83 for which the intent could not be determined, and 20 due to legal intervention.
Wes note for above ... so far, I have not found figures to break-down child-fatality-from-firearms to events that involved a firearm kept in the house, however, press involving shootings of children at home often mentioned that the family kept a gun at home.
In the US: Snakebites frequently go unreported. Approximately 4000-8000 bites are reported to national centers each year. The national average is approximately 4 bites per 100,000 persons.
Deaths secondary to snake bites are rare. The national average has been less than 4 deaths per year for the last several years.
Rattlesnake bites in children are rarely reported. Of the 8000 venomous bites that occur in the United States each year, half involve persons under the age of 20. The reported rate of fatalities occurring from envenomation is roughly 1 to 20 per year, with reports of 20% of deaths occurring in children is rarely reported in the medical literature.
{Wes note: The critical 'so what' here is that even though there are more venomous bites-per-year affecting all ages than there are child-deaths-from-guns ... medical reports and a distinct lack of press reporting back to 94, confirm that no children in America died from venomous bite from snakes (domestic or foreign) kept at home … unlike the gun numbers}
Ladies and Gentlemen, from where I type, there is no comparison in the ‘threat/danger’ provided to children by having a secured gun or a secured hot in the home …. Guns are historically proven a more significant danger by an overwhelming factor … based on the reported medical facts and lack of anti-hot press involving snakebites at home, the past risk of hots at home to children has been negligible.
respects
Wes (helmet on …)
Selected data from:
http://www.commondreams.org/pressreleases/Oct98/101298a.htm
http://www.bradycenter.org/stop2/facts/fs4.php
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0922329.html
http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic2143.htm
http://www.wemjournal.org/wmsonline/?request=get-document&issn=1080-6032&volume=012&issue=03&page=0184
http://members.iinet.net.au/~bush/myth.html
