jay_sugman

jay_sugman t1_j1mom8d wrote

Reply to comment by SomaCityWard in Westport elementary students sickened after ingesting THC-laced candy on school bus by jaydecay123

>That you think this makes it less bad in any way is disturbing.

I had indicated that they are different and did not qualify one over the other. Instead of dismissing me, why not ask an honest question.

Also I appreciate your effort to provide sources but your mixing different things. Most dangerous state is measured in your stat with violent crime overall not gun deaths. Also, your stat on gang deaths was for all shooting deaths and not for the age group we were discussing which seems relevant. It's important to make these distinctions to understand root causes and addressing them. I was responding to the original comment that a mother in Westport should be more worried about gun deaths and that simply isn't true statistically.

> NEWTOWN is not suburban? The site of one of the worst mass shootings in US history?.

This statement is confusing. I know Sandy Hook was local. It's where I grew up, the school went to a million years ago and where friends had kids the day of the shooting (none fortunately who lost their lives). The horror of that event does not change rarity and I didn't say shootings in rural areas didn't exist.

This NYT article generally backs up my assertions. Most children shooting deaths are 17-19 year olds. More than 5x than 1-9 year olds. City rates are much higher. Minority deaths are much higher 8x for black boys. (The article specifically mentions it doesn't have the data for associating the deaths with gangs. ) once again, none of this mean it's not an important social issue. It's just isn't a direct concern for a white mother in Westport for a elementary school age kid. It is though for a urban, poor minority mother. I think scaring the Westport mom does a disservice to the poor urban folks dealing with this. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/14/magazine/gun-violence-children-data-statistics.html

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jay_sugman t1_j16dfah wrote

Reply to comment by SomaCityWard in Westport elementary students sickened after ingesting THC-laced candy on school bus by jaydecay123

A true stat but worth noting that children are defined in this stat as people up to age 19 and includes murders and suicides. So a very big spike in the upper teen years for that stat related to drug and gang activity. Murder rates in big citys and suburbs are night and day. The reason I bring this up is the westport Karens worried about pot edibles for their elementary aged kids are not the same parents whose older children are driving up the gun death stat. You're right that the Karens shouldn't be worried about edibles but gun deaths are also little concern for kids in Westport. This disparity does show how much the teen deaths are largely ignored in large cities.

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