205 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
205 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
USA TODAY
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Dec. 29, 1993
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page 1A
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200 million guns can't be ignored
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by Tony Mauro
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The USA can no longer ignore guns.
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Until now, it was easy for a large slice of the nation to grow
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up never knowing about guns, never handling guns, never thinking
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about guns.
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Another part of the nation never thought much about guns
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because they were as common as broomsticks ÄÄ part of growing up,
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working, playing, serving in the military.
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But today in the USA ÄÄ land of more than 200 million guns and
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12,489 handgun murders last year ÄÄ the issue finally has crossed
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the cultural divide.
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A consensus has formed that something must be done to reduce
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the availability of guns. On every street corner, at the
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workplace, in the classroom.
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It is a consensus formed of fear.
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The longtime lure of guns in this country has brought us to a
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place where, even in our mostly urban society, half of all
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households contain a gun, where gun and gun crimes have become so
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common that a new language has been created to define them:
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drive-by shooting, carjacking, street sweepers.
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If guns have changed our vocabulary, they have altered our
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lives even more. On New Year's Day, a new attraction will flick
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on in New York City's Times Square ÄÄ a "death-clock" counting
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the number of people killed by guns in the USA.
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Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, no longer will sell
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handguns over the counter. Midnight Mass was held hours early in
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some churches Christmas Eve because of fear.
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And guns have triggered seemingly contradictory desires: for
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more gun control ÄÄÄÄ and for more guns. Gun sales are
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skyrocketing, but so are the poll numbers in favor of gun
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control, hovering close to 90%.
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The response of the political system has been similarly
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divided. As urgent as the crisis is, there is still disagreement
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over how we got where we are with guns ÄÄ and whether guns are
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only a misleading symbol of society's deeper problems.
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"Gun control is a case where things almost seem to be out of
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whack," says Everett Ladd, head of the Roper Center for Public
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Opinion. It is very rare, Ladd says, to find such clear public
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demand for action ÄÄ and so little action to show for it.
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"The public is leading the politicians," he says.
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One example: the Brady Bill's five-day waiting period for gun
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purchases has had near-unanimous public support since 1988, but
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it was not until this year that Congress passed it.
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The debate over guns, says Florida State University's Gary
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Kleck, has always been a "dialogue of the deaf" ÄÄ both sides
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certain of their positions, certain the other side is wrong.
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Both sides have been unwilling to listen, until now.
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There is a new sense that a saturation point has been reached:
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.One child is killed with a firearm every six hours.
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.One handgun is produced every 20 seconds, and a handgun
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injures someone every 20 seconds.
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.A suicide by firearms takes place every 28 minutes, 20
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seconds.
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.More than one-third of Americans have [a] friend or relative
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who has been shot, recent polls show.
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"Anything else we do is useless until we get the guns off the
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streets," said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino at Monday's funeral of
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a boy shot on his way to an anti-gang meeting.
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"All they've got to do is read the paper and they think, 'My
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God, there but for the grace of God goes me,'" says Sgt. Robert
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Hoelscher of the Metro Dade Police Department in Miami. "People
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feel defenseless."
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The crisis seems sudden to many, but has evolved over more than
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two centuries ÄÄ in a country conceived in revolution, born with
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a skepticism of government, and carved out of a vast and
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threatening frontier.
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"The great object is that every man be armed," said Patrick
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Henry, the patriot orator, during debates over the Constitution
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in 1788. "The militia, sir, is our ultimate safety." That belief
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was memorialized in the Second Amendment, which figures in the
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debate even today.
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"The nation was born in violent revolution," says Independence
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Institute scholar David Kopel. "You can't say from our history
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that violence is always wrong."
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The USA's beginning gives context to the commonness of guns
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today. In many parts of the country, guns always were a part of
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home life; owning one poses no moral dilemma, teaching a child to
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use one, no sin.
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But elsewhere, guns are decidedly foreign objects.
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In the newsroom of USA TODAY, for example, which prides itself
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on drawing its staff from a cross-section of the nation, it was
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hard to find editors and reporters who had ever pulled a trigger.
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In other workplaces, it would be difficult to find anyone who
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hadn't.
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"The real gulf between points of view is geographic, not
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necessarily political," says Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill. "If you're
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from a rural area or the far West, your gun takes on an almost
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theological significance."
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How did the common experience with guns turn sour in so many
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places? Pick from a host of social trends: rootlessness, drugs, a
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detachment from society, media violence, breakup of the family.
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"Why is it that people are carrying weapons?" asks Thomas
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Blomberg, professor of criminology at Florida State University.
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"Why are people able to pull the trigger and shoot someone in the
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face and walk away? We do have people in this society who have
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nothing to lose."
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Says the Rev. Robert Drinan, a Georgetown law professor:
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"There's a streak of violence among us that is deep. It's there,
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like the Rocky Mountains. No other civilized nation is like us."
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For many young men, new rites of passage have evolved, and they
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include guns. "It used to be beer or a cigarette or sex that kids
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would use to mark their entry into to manhood," says sociologist
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Edward Peeples of Virginia Commonwealth University. "Now they've
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got to tote a piece. Our culture is developing new ways of being
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a man."
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And as this happened, guns became ever so much more powerful
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and available.
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The National Rifle Association says the proliferation of guns
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saves lives because they're used for self-defense. How often?
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Figures range from thousands of times a year to millions of
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times. But many claim availability only adds to the danger.
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"If you have a family violence situation ... having a gun in
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the house is like pouring kerosene on the fire," says Paul Mones,
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a lawyer who has defended children accused of murder. "And what
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we've seen recently is the proliferation of more powerful
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weapons. It's amazing how much easier it is to kill people when
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you can shoot 15 rounds in seconds."
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Says psychologist Stanley Samenow, "A lot of shootings that
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occur, including domestic shootings, happen because you have a
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gun lying around ... Most people get mad, some people get really
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mad but if they don't have a gun handy they handle it another
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way."
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Guns have taken on a new role in society: problem solver.
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"There was a time when conflict would end with people being the
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best of friends, and it just doesn't work that way anymore," says
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Clementine Barfield of Detroit, who founded the group Save Our
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Sons and Daughters after her son, Derrick, was shot and killed at
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16.
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The national sense that guns have reached a toxic level has
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given gun control advocates more hope than ever that something
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will be done to restrict access to guns.
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In the wake of the passage of the Brady Bill, President Clinton
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has asked Attorney General Janet Reno to devise a proposal for
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some form of national registration of firearms.
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Reno's mantra ÄÄ "It should be at least as hard to get a
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license to possess a gun as it is to drive an automobile" ÄÄ is
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meeting less opposition than ever before.
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Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., thinks the time is now.
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"We've got a real shot at beginning to make some progress on
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this," Schroeder says. "The public is saying, for the first time,
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'It's violence, stupid,' to policy makers."
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But some fear the public's resolve will fade again. Through
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history, Congress has enacted gun control legislation almost
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every 30 years, with little action in between.
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"We've been up this road before," says law professor Drinan, a
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former member of Congress. "I remember thinking in 1981 when
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President Reagan was shot and the pope was shot, that now the two
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most important people in the world have been shot, something will
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happen.
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"And nothing did."
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ Deaths due to guns ³
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³ A breakdown of the reasons for 1991's 38,317 firearm deaths ³
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³ in the USA: ³
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³ Suicide: 18,526 ³
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³ Homicides: 17,746 ³
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³ Accidents: 1,441 ³
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³ Unknown/other: 604 ³
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³ ³
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³ Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ³
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ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ³
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³ Handguns and homicides ³
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³ Handguns were used in 55.4% of all homicides in 1992, ³
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³ up from 43.5% in 1982: ³
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³ ³
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³ [line graph plots all homicides vs. handgun homicides] ³
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³ 1982 1992 ³
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³ All homicides: ~ 19,500 22,540 ³
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³ Handgun homicides ~ 9,000 12,489 ³
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ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ ³
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³ ³
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³ Youths killed in handgun homicides (under age 18) ³
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³ ³
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³ 1986: 602 ³
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³ 1988: 812 ³
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³ 1990: 1,362 ³
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³ 1992: 1,468 ³
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³ ³
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³ Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reports ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
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³ Common target: Young black males ³
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³ Young black males are 10 times more likely than white males ³
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³ to be a firearm homicide victim. Firearm homicides per 100,000 ³
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³ in the 15-19 age group: ³
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³ ³
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³ Black males °°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°° 105.3 ³
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³ Black females °°°°°° 10.4 ³
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³ White males °°°°° 9.7 ³
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³ White females ° 2.0 ³
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³ ³
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³ Source: Centers for Disease Control, 1990 ³
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ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
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[end]
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