Barry Stevens bfranklinprinter@verizon.net
Reader says School shootings are far less likely than being Struck by Lightning
“The National School Safety Center, a good source of statistics, started collecting data on K-12 violence in the 1992-93 school year. During the first five years, from 1992-93 to 1996-97, there were 26.8 gun murders per year on K-12 and university school property. In contrast, during the last five school years, 2009-10 to 2013-14, the average was 12 – a 55 percent drop.
There have obviously been ups and downs from year to year since large school shootings are rare, but the five-year averages have shown a consistent drop in gun deaths. Even including the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, that is the trend.
With 77 million Americans between the ages of 5 and 22, that implies a school murder rate of 0.008 per 100,000 people in the 2013-14 school year, well less than 1 percent of the overall murder rate.”
Shootings are rare and statistically insignificant. Focus on real problems and stop wasting resources on an event FAR LESS LIKELY THAN BEING STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
School shootings are still non-existent in a statistical sense. They are extremely rare. We are investing resources to stop a non-existent problem instead of focusing on real issues that threaten the health of our children. Things that are much more likely to harm a child:
–Car accidents
–Suicide
–Gun accidents at home
–Obesity
–Sexual assault from classmates
Lets focus resources on real problems instead of worrying about things that statistically do not even exist.
Four students were hit by gunfire last week in that school near Seattle however another 1000+ students were traumatized by the incident.
Don’t just count the body bags…..