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***So the CDC keeps track of deaths caused by cows, but not by guns…interesting. Carol Marin may have a point about this being a scandal. Full disclosure: I am a gun enthusiast and gun owner who annually hunts pheasants and my father and brother are both card carrying members of the NRA. So I have no axe to grind here. I just find this an interesting example of how powerful lobbies can be counterproductive on society ***

* Is NRA part of the problem in counting the shootings?(I strongly suggest you read the whole thing)

Kathleen Monahan, the former project director for the Illinois Violent Death Reporting System, puts it this way: “While firearms injuries are one of the leading causes of hospitalization and death for Americans, the CDC was prevented for years from investigating injuries and deaths due to firearms. This was always attributed to the NRA’s power in Congress. This is well known among gun violence prevention researchers.”[…]

The NRA’s fearsome clout goes a long way to explaining why only 17 states are part of the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System. Begun in 2002, it ran out of funding by the time Illinois applied in 2004. Private money from the Joyce and MacArthur foundations came to Illinois’ rescue as it tried to examine gun violence. Still that money covers only three counties.

“Information is the gun lobby’s enemy,” said Kristen Rand of the Violence Policy Center, based in Washington.

So much so that when it comes to suicides, the CDC does not break out its data with regard to the method used. Hanging? Drug overdose? Or gun?

* Farmers beware: CDC report says cows can be fatal

Farmers beware: A government report says cattle cause 20 deaths a year on average on U.S. farms.Farmers beware: A government report says cattle cause 20 deaths a year on average on U.S. farms.

* Beer wiser: Get schooled in suds

There are 1,545 breweries operating in the United States. Thousands more are scattered worldwide — from traditional beer-drinking countries such as Belgium and Germany to newer craft-brewing hot spots such as Italy and Norway. With many, if not most, of those breweries regularly releasing new offerings, seasonal brews and limited one-offs, there’s a never-ending supply of new beers to learn about and sample.[…]

Well, you don’t have to devote your waking hours tuned in to the buzz on beer-geek Web sites, boning up on the latest bourbon barrel-aged stout or the newest brewery to expand its distribution into Illinois. Rather, let others impart their carefully edited and fine-tuned beer knowledge unto you when you head to one of Chicago’s many so-called beer schools.

Classes range in size from the dozen or so people who typically attend Whole Foods’ monthly class at its West Lakeview location to 70 people at Goose Island’s Beer Academy. And they’re geared toward a general audience — from the novice to the aficionado.

* Fully functioning chapel on wheels hits the road

Now couples can pay $100 to get married in the tiny church at this year’s Illinois State Fair, which runs Aug. 14-23 in Springfield.

* Bemoaning the demise of the Arena Football League

* Rare snake gives birth at Chicago zoo

posted by Mike Murray
Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 9:50 am

Comments

Three cheers for ‘beer education’. I don’t much care if you like light lagers as long as you know there are other styles of beer out there. If you have given some a try then extra kudos to you.

Comment by Gish Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:24 am
If you are a member of the NRA, a hunter, or anyone who likes guns, please tell us why it is wrong to keep statistics on gun injuries, why it is wrong to check the terrorist watch list for anyone trying to purchase a gun, and why background checks at gun shows are wrong. If we check the records, we will keep guns from the hands of bad people. Isn’t that what everyone wants?

Comment by Amy Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 11:02 am
I have a real problem with attempts to classify gun injuries as a public health issue instead of a crime issue… This isn’t in CDC’s patch, it should be up to DOJ.

Comment by Ken in Aurora Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 11:50 am
Amy –

It’s not about statistics. It’s about biased research aimed at driving an agenda. Ad taxpayer dollars should not be used for that.

gog tot he CDC website and you can see they keep stats on work place deaths:

in 2004 773 people dies int he work place from machinery
585 from drowning
237 by firearms.

The information is available.

as to your other questions, the no fly list is a bogus issue. Tell me how I am suppose to confront a list no knows how you get on, much less how to get off of, you’ve never been arrested much less convicted of a crime and that is to be the basis of denying your a consitutional right.

if your on the list no 4th amend protections for you? If your on the list no right to council for you?

It’s not about background checks, never has been, it’s about preventing people from buying guns and excersing their rights.

Comment by Todd Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 1:18 pm
All of these statistics are already available through the Dept. of Justice. Check for yourself. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/weaponstab.htm. Must be a slow news day.

Comment by anon Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 3:28 pm
Sorry, that first link didn’t work. Try this one instead, or you can do a web search for “DOJ crime statistics”. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs

Comment by anon Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 3:31 pm
no, Todd, it is about background checks.

death in the workplace….other places? stats are not there or are
incomplete.

terrorists don’t have the right to get a gun. do you object to being searched as you go through the check points?

what about background checks at gun shows…you did not say anything about that.

my husband and his family all, and i mean the men and the women, have guns. no one thinks their rights are being violated if statistics are kept and backgrounds are checked. we care too much about the lives of police officers to do otherwise.

but thanks for trying to explain.

Comment by Amy Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 5:10 pm
Amy –

There are plenty of stats on crime and violence. I do think that when they classify people in their 20’s in the “children’s” catagory that its more than a bit misleading.

Gun shows are not an issue. It isn’t about background checks, it’s about regulating the private transaction between two poeple. More red tape, more record keeeping , more waiting periods, more hassle.

First off we have background checks in Illinois they are called FOID cards. You have to have one in order to possess or buy a firearm. It was a moot issue here, but they passed a background check requirement for those private transactions at gun shows. Guess what, at last count there have been a little over 350 in 4 years. Not like it’s the commerce center of the gun world in Illinois.

And then these past two years Dear Oberman Osterman, now wants to outlaw any private transaction of a firearm that does not go through a gun dealer.

So it isn’t about background checks, it is about regiserting people firearm purchases, more fees to exercise a right, more red tape more waiting periods and more hassle.

I don’t have a choice about what happens when I get on an airplane, so I either accept it or don’t fly. Non-issue.

But I do refuse and have consent searches when asked by a cop. Not becuase I have anything to hide but becuase it is my right to do so. You may let them go through your car, that is your choice. But because you choose not to exercise your right, does not mean I have to give up mine nor endure more red tape becuase I choose to do so.

As for the no fly list, it is a buch of BS. Ted Kennedy was on it and denied a flight at one point. If all it takes is a government acusation that prevents you from excercising a right, that is a sad commentary on the due process clause of our consitution. No chance to face an accuser, force citizens to spend money to declare their innocense, and what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Now I mioght argue that even without the no fly list there are reasons to keep Ted Kennedy from owning a gun, but the no fly list is not one of them.

If people have done somehting so wrong as to warrant the denial of a consitutional right, then petition the court to take it away and let a person have some due process. At this point can you tell me how you get on the list? Or how you get off if it’s wrong?

Seems all those that want to shutter gimo have no problem trampling on the rights of those who believe in the opperative clause of the Second Amendment that says , the right of the people to keep and bear arms SHALL not be infringed.

What part of that do you have a hard time understanding?

BTW if you do own a firearm good for you, but that does not let you decide policy for the rest of us as I mentione above.

Comment by Todd Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 6:45 pm
Todd:
I agree that classifying people in their 20s as children would be wrong. let’s get the counting correct, just by numbers, no editorializing.

sorry you think record keeping is a hassle. recent tv spots about gun shows in other states have horror stories. so, if you think that record keeping is a hassle, do you think the FOID card in Illinois is wrong?

Does Pennsylvania still have a system where sales of guns must be done in police stations? that’s where my dad grew up.

it’s odd that you are fearful of laws and procedures for stops by police, flying. are there laws on the books that you would erase?

stopping ted kennedy flying….who cares, as long as it stops the bad guys, why worry about hassling the likes of teddy?

who says I’d like to shutter Gitmo? don’t paint us all with one brush. we are not all Obama lovers.

“BTW if you do own a firearm good for you, but that does not let you decide policy for the rest of us….”

and i say the exact same thing to you.

Comment by Amy Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:09 pm
Amy –

I do believe that ther FOID card is unconstitutional. Per the Supreme Court case of Murdock v Pennsylania which said:

It is contended, however, that the fact that the license tax can suppress or control this activity is unimportant [319 U.S. 105, 113] if it does not do so. But that is to disregard the nature of this tax. It is a license tax – a flat tax imposed on the exercise of a privilege granted by the Bill of Rights. A state may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the federal constitution.”

My understanding is that all private handgun sales must go through the sheriff. We have fought that here and will continue to fight it. It’s none of their business what I own. Either I pass the background check or I don’t. Simple as that.

i have a consitutional right to be free from unwarranted intrusions and searches. I don’t have a right to fly. I do think they go overboard in what they try to accomplish. Still everytime I fly, I carry at least two weapons on me. Right through security. they look at them, xray them and I go on my merry way. And yes I think the rule about people taking their shoes off is silly and needs to be repealed among others.

Who cares if it stops someone who neither has the inclination to commit a crime, nor has been accused of one? Hmm ask a black man about DWB in the suburbs and ask him if he thinks getting pulled over is ok for the sake of stopping crime? I don’t think so, and I wouldn’t support it.

I do get to have a larger say int he firearm policies of this state. It’s simple I represent the largest group for gun owners in Illinois. We call, write and vote. We organize go to town hall meetings and come to the state capitol. when you can get more than 5,000 people who believe like you, then you can have a larger say. Until that time I do get to have a large say, larger than your’s, in the policies and laws that affect gun owners in this state.

Like it or not, that is the way it works. There are more gun guys who think like me, then think like you. And we are unwilling to trade away our rights becuase it makes someone else feel better.

We won Heller Last year. This Spring I predict we will win Chicago. Then we will start to bring the Second Amendment on par with the 1st & 4th.

We should have one US Supreme Court case a year for the next 10 years as we distill the rights protected under the Second. I suspect we will have many more state court challenges that also outline the rights enumerated by the Second.

It’s gong to be an interesting time. Hope you enjoy it. BTW when do you want to go to the range?

Comment by Todd Friday, Aug 7, 09 @ 7:32 pm