Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, January 28, 1994 TAG: 9401280181
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
If trends continue, firearms will be killing more Americans than motor vehicles within the next few years, federal officials said Thursday.
More Americans age 25-34 are killed by guns than by motor vehicles, said Donna Shalala, the secretary of health and human services.
"It is appalling that in the world's strongest and wealthiest country, death by firearms is increasing at the alarming rate these studies find," Shalala said.
From 1968 to 1991, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gun-related deaths have risen 60 percent nationwide, while auto-related deaths have declined 21 percent.
There were 43,536 vehicle-related deaths in 1991, compared to 38,317 firearm-related deaths.
Firearm deaths exceeded motor vehicle deaths in Virginia, California, New York, Texas, Louisiana, Nevada and the District of Columbia in 1991. In Maryland, the number of firearm and motor vehicle deaths was identical, and in Michigan, vehicle deaths exceeded firearm deaths by only 1 percent.
In more than half the states, more black people were killed by firearms than by motor vehicles.
The findings come as the public expresses increased concern over violent crime and public officials scurry to respond. In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Clinton proposed more police, mandatory sentencing and fewer guns.
Sarah Brady, chairwoman of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, said the statistics demonstrate the need to regulate guns as the government regulates cars.
"The country has made miraculous progress in the reduction of automobile fatalities," Brady said. "Just as tighter regulation and public safety education campaigns have reduced fatalities by cars, similar efforts will effectively prevent firearm deaths."
Paul Blackman, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, denounced the findings as "pseudo-science."
"You are looking at accidents and comparing them to injuries," Blackman said. "There are different motives at work."
He blamed federal officials and the news media for presenting a biased picture. "They refuse to look at what has caused the increase in homicides and scream `guns! guns! guns!' " Blackman said.
Blackman blamed social problems and a failure to punish criminals, not the wide availability of guns, for the rising death rate.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB