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The condition/caveat for that statistic is where "External/injury was the cause of death"Welcome!
Not to detract from S.A.F.E. as an organization or it's goals... which I fully support and believe are highly commendable... but I am curious about the statement on the main page:
"FIREARM ACCIDENTS ARE THE 3RD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH FOR CHILDREN IN THE STATE OF OREGON"
I'm curious what data sets that information is based on. IE. Incident types, ages groups, etc. The concern of course is validity of that type of claim. It may very well be true, but if manipulated toward sensationalism in an effort to drive participation in safety programs I wonder if, as a whole, it doesn't do more harm in fueling the anti-firearm sentiments in the state(?)
IE., "Prominent pro-2A child firearm safety organization in OR reports..." carries a lot of weight in public perception.
I'm familiar too with the practice of "wide lumping" vast numbers of causes into one general classification that is then only counted as "one" in the rankings in an effort to drive up the seeming significance and ranking of the chosen cause. Many times... those broad classifications making up the vast lions share of all deaths... and next ranking "causes" comprising only an incredibly small percentage of all deaths. By "ranking" in that way... the statements can be, technically, crafted to be true, but actual numbers of deaths is vastly far from any accuracy and the picture being painted.
I'm not saying that's what's going on here, but the "accidental firearms deaths" seems incredibly high... especially when it is also stated on the website that 3-4 children per day die from firearm accidents nationwide. Nationwide, more children per day die from accidental injuries, cancer/congenital defects, auto accidents, homicides, and malnutrition than the 3-4 per day to accidental firearm deaths stated.
That claim is only for Oregon though so, as far as I know, the true and fair data points do back that up. I would just like transparency in that claim.
I forget the exact statistic, but suicide is by far the leading cause among firearm deaths. I remember in the safety class I took someone spoke about even those statistics being off because some are most likely chalked up to "accidental discharges" since they can't always prove it was suicide.
The leading causes of death in children under 18 years in Oregon is overwhelmingly "Perinatal Causes". But people don't like to talk about that for some reason. I actually have a good friend who advocates heavily for improvement in perinatal care as well as post partum care as the death rate is so high for a 1st world nation like ours.
Anyways, just thought that might help a bit.
@Kids_SAFE_Fdn Welcome to the forum!