For an increasing number of Americans, the famous line in A Christmas Story “You’ll shoot your eye out” has become a reality. According to a study published in The Journal of Pediatrics eye injuries from air guns more than doubled between 1992 and 2012. But hang on Mrs. Parker..com reports that . . .
The data, which came from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, showed that on average, about 19,209 children were treated for such eye injuries each year, and there was a slight decline in the overall rate of eye injury.
“However, the rate of eye injury associated with non-powder guns — including BB, pellet and paintball guns — increased by almost 170%,” Smith said. “Non-powder-gun-related eye injuries accounted for 11% of eye injuries and almost half of hospitalizations reported during the study period.”
Fun fact: The Journal study reports that 89 percent of these injuries occur with no adult present. So what we have here isn’t a gun problem. It’s a failure to parent.
Saying that, I used to play unsupervised with ari guns and explosives, and somehow managed to enter adulthood with my sight and fingers attached.
No doubt countries that classify air guns as firearms “for the children” — Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany and New Jersey — will use this study to vindicate their statist restrictions on anything that even looks like a “dangerous” gun. And continue to show screenings of A Christmas Story as a cautionary tale, rather than comic relief.