Child dies from falling TV

[wgoforth]

Tragic.....over 300 children die a year from falling TV's. In spite of all the media hype, 500 a year die from gun accidents, just to put this into perspective. You hear of TV deaths, and everyone thinks it's a fluke. Think of child gun deaths, and you hear it is an epidemic. http://www.ktxs.com/news/Texas-toddler- ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Don't get me wrong, any is too many and I agree... but what, other than media hype, considers 300 to be a fluke and 500 a norm?

[mr surveyor]

any idea how many of those 500 accidental firearms deaths of "children" are actually gang bangers and the like?

[wgoforth]

any idea how many of those 500 accidental firearms deaths of "children" are actually gang bangers and the like?

I'm thinking the accidental deaths to be like child gets a hold of gun or dad cleans gun and he shoots child, etc...and that the gang banger shooting child to be homicide rather than accident.

[mr surveyor]

any idea how many of those 500 accidental firearms deaths of "children" are actually gang bangers and the like?

I'm thinking the accidental deaths to be like child gets a hold of gun or dad cleans gun and he shoots child, etc...and that the gang banger shooting child to be homicide rather than accident.

I'm guessing that it may depend on who assembled the stats and what their motives were. I have little to no confidence in statistics in most cases, even though my profession requires quite a bit of statistical analysis of "numbers". In my situation, I know exactly where the data came from, how it should be input into the model, and how it should be analyzed ... without any particular desired "outcome" as being an acceptable result. Kinda like GIGO (garbage in - garbage out). I'm not suggesting anything bogus about the numbers you used in your post as they were what was available to you at the time. I suppose I'm getting more and more cynical as I get older. I wonder if there's a cure for that?

surv

[WildBill]

any idea how many of those 500 accidental firearms deaths of "children" are actually gang bangers and the like?

I'm thinking the accidental deaths to be like child gets a hold of gun or dad cleans gun and he shoots child, etc...and that the gang banger shooting child to be homicide rather than accident.

I'm guessing that it may depend on who assembled the stats and what their motives were. I have little to no confidence in statistics in most cases, even though my profession requires quite a bit of statistical analysis of "numbers". In my situation, I know exactly where the data came from, how it should be input into the model, and how it should be analyzed ... without any particular desired "outcome" as being an acceptable result. Kinda like GIGO (garbage in - garbage out). I'm not suggesting anything bogus about the numbers you used in your post as they were what was available to you at the time. I suppose I'm getting more and more cynical as I get older. I wonder if there's a cure for that?

surv

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. [/quote]

Mark Twain popularized the saying in "Chapters from My Autobiography", published in the North American Review in 1906. "Figures often beguile me," he wrote, "particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

[wgoforth]

My point is simply that 300 TV's is considered a rare fluke that seldom ever happens...but if you listen to the media, you'd think the 500 a year (they report) is some kind of epidemic.

[WildBill]

My point is simply that 300 TV's is considered a rare fluke that seldom ever happens...but if you listen to the media, you'd think the 500 a year (they report) is some kind of epidemic.

If it's an epidemic, maybe "they" should try to invent a vaccine.

Unfortunately, bad things happen to good and innocent people. I wish that it were different, but that's the way life is.

[urnoodle]

I remember reading somewhere that there is approximately 6,800 incidents of accidental drowning each year. 3,500 of them are fatalities and 750 of those are children under the age of 15. Of the remaining 3,300 incidents, approximately 20% suffer severe and irreparable brain damage. I don't see anyone lobbying the government to control access to public waters, or public and private pools. That would mean the Obama Bin Laden would loose his backyard pool.

[Dad24GreatKids]

My point is simply that 300 TV's is considered a rare fluke that seldom ever happens...but if you listen to the media, you'd think the 500 a year (they report) is some kind of epidemic.

If you look at this relative to the number of homes with a TV versus number of homes with guns, then it makes more sense. A quick Google search shows that about one third of US homes have a gun. 90%+ have a TV. Although the actual numbers are close (500 v. 300), the likelihood of a child being killed by a falling television is much lower.

I don't agree with the way that the media represents this, but these seem to be the facts.

[Boxerrider]

The socially-responsible thing would be a television buy-back campaign. For the children.

[WildBill]

I remember reading somewhere that there is approximately 6,800 incidents of accidental drowning each year. 3,500 of them are fatalities and 750 of those are children under the age of 15. Of the remaining 3,300 incidents, approximately 20% suffer severe and irreparable brain damage.

There have been some programs aimed at teaching children how to swim. I think that's a great idea. Not only for saving lives, but for excercise and sport.

In some states there used to be a swimming test required for graduating from high school some colleges. Over the years some school districts have removed this requirement.

After World War II, American colleges began implementing the swim requirement to reduce the rate of sailors drowning at sea during shipwrecks. Now, most high schools and colleges do not require the proficiency in swimming anymore, and it has faded as more fitness options have become available.

http://www.thelowell.org/news/78-latest ... t-after-14

[philip964]

My memory from the last TV I bought there was a diagram of a TV set on a dresser and it falling on a child. They recommended tieing it to a wall behind the TV. I'm sure you have seen the diagram of a child drowning in a five gallon bucket, printed on the sides of the bucket.

Watch your kids.

Seems from reading the statistics on line. Medical mistakes (they say misadventures) are the leading cause of death in the US, even higher than car accidents.

Obviously we need to ban medicine, doctors, nurses and hospitals.

Don't get sick.

[The Annoyed Man]

I remember actually working on a child in the ER where I worked whom this happened to, except it wasn't a TV, it was a large exterior wall-mounted flowerbox at his grandmother's home. He was a little guy, maybe 5 or 6 years old. He was trying to pull himself up onto it, several feet off the ground, when he pulled it off the wall and it landed on top of him when he fell. It fractured his liver and he nearly bled out right in the ER. We did save him though.

So this kind of stuff does happen.

[Jumping Frog]

In "More Guns Less Crime", John Lott documents how more children die every year from drowning in a 5 gallon bucket than die of firearms. Of course, he is using the term "children" to mean what we would think it means (i.e., actual children), and not including 16-24 year old gang members.

[The Annoyed Man]

In "More Guns Less Crime", John Lott documents how more children die every year from drowning in a 5 gallon bucket than die of firearms. Of course, he is using the term "children" to mean what we would think it means (i.e., actual children), and not including 16-24 year old gang members.

Yes. Just for the record, my post before this one wasn't commentary on the guns angle, merely a statement that accidents like this do kill children.....as in, little kids. I don't include 18 year old "children" who want to off one another over drug dealing turf in my thinking.