Gun Safety And A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

The Guardian has an article entitled "I own six guns. Here’s how to talk to conservatives about firearms" by Meredith Dean. Well, in response to Ms. Dean, I would suggest that she first learn what are guns, for her count of six "guns" included two B.B. "guns" which aren't firearms under federal law. Her family's other guns are two shotguns and two .22 rifles. This is a woman that may possess a few firearms but doesn't really know anything about firearms.

    Second, she needs to get her facts straight. She states that "firearms are the leading cause of death among American children and teenagers, killing 2,581 children under 18 in 2023 alone." Here is what she is concealing: according to the CDC, drowning is the leading cause of death for children 1-4, and the second leading cause of death after motor vehicle accidents for children 5-14.  It is harder to find data just on 15-17 year old death rates, but this article indicates that if you cap "children" at 17 or under, the number one cause of death is motor vehicle accidents. And the National Safety Council states on its website:

According to the latest data available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the number of teen motor-vehicle occupant deaths in 2024 totaled 2,565, down 5.4% from 2,714 in 2023. Motor-vehicle crashes continue to be the number one cause of preventable death for U.S. teens. NHTSA also estimates that the total number of deaths among teens ages 13 to 19 (including pedestrian and bicycle incidents) was 2,899 in 2024, averaging eight deaths per day. 

I don't know where Ms. Dean got her facts, but she is wrong about firearms being the leading cause of death of children ages 17 and younger. 

    In any event, after she insults our intelligence about what is a gun and misstates the leading cause of death for children, Ms. Dean writes:

But decades of polarization have made it near impossible to agree on even the simplest measures. Liberals caricature gun owners as uneducated rednecks or reckless young men stockpiling AR-15s; gun owners see liberals as bleeding hearts determined to confiscate their weapons. But keeping guns away from children seemed like the one place where we might meet.   

She then references the Gun Aware Program, intended to distribute gun locks, and her own organization, Community Works. According to Dean, "the goal of Community Works is not to overcome, or try to change, rural culture. It’s about understanding, respecting and learning to live alongside our conservative rural neighbors." In other words, she inveigles her way into the hearts and homes of her conservative neighbors by finding common cause on small things in order to build trust and, thereby, disarm their defenses as to more progressive ideas. She concludes:

    I’d like to think we’ve learned something in 150 years: that by working together across lines of geography, race, class, party and even guns, we might build a more equitable future.

    For myself, after handing out scores of gun locks to my neighbors, I’ll be donating half our guns to a local effort called Groceries Not Guns, and safely storing the others using my brand new locks. 

But her true intentions are revealed by her use of insider terms like "equitable" (which is an anti-white term) and supporting the anti-gun group Groceries Not Guns--a creation of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.