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American Morning

Boys and Guns in America

Aired June 05, 2001 - 10:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Every year, about 400 children in America are killed from unintentional gun shots. Another 3,000 youngsters are injured. The vast majority of those shootings involve young boys.

And our medical news correspondent Rhonda Rowland takes a closer look now at the connection between boys and guns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Almost any parent will tell you boys are fascinated with guns. We saw it when CNN invited these boys to play with toy water guns. But what happens when boys find a real gun? 5-year-old Rudy Newborn found a loaded handgun in a relative's nightstand drawer. He shot himself in the eye. The bullet came out the side of his head.

(on camera): Did it hurt?

RUDY NEWBORN: I thought it was one of those pretend guns.

ROWLAND: So you thought it was a pretend gun?

LESLIE NEWBORN, RUDY'S MOTHER: He did not know. He could not tell the difference between a gun and a toy. To him, this was just another toy to be explored.

ROWLAND (voice-over): In fact, a new study shows most boys will play with a real gun if they find one.

DR. ARTHUR KELLERMAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY: We found in the 29 sets of boys we tested, all between the ages of 8 and 12 -- old enough to know better, you'd think -- that over 75 percent of these boys put in a room for only 15 minutes found the real handgun that had been hidden there.

ROWLAND: As you can see in this video taken through a one-way mirror, the boys found both the real gun and toy guns concealed in drawers. A radio transmitter documented when the trigger was pulled. Of those who discovered the gun in the study, 76 percent handled it. Almost one-half pulled the trigger, and only half thought the gun was real or were unsure.

DR. HAROLD SIMON, PEDIATRICIAN: The families that were surveyed thought that most children in this age group would be able to recognize the difference between a toy gun and a real gun and would avoid touching them or playing with them or pulling the trigger, and that's not what we found.

ROWLAND: We asked these boys what they would do if they found a real gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say, stop playing with that gun, you might kill yourself.

QUESTION: Would you tell someone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

ROWLAND: But in the study, only one of the 29 groups of boys told an adult about the gun.

(on camera): These latest findings support the American Academy Of Pediatrics' recommendations that the best way to prevent gun- related deaths and injuries in children is to get rid of firearms in homes and communities.

(voice-over): Despite her son's accident, Leslie Newborn is not against gun ownership, but says:

LESLIE NEWBORN, RUDY'S MOTHER: Lock them away. Lock them away, because you can't let your guard down for it, not even for a day -- not even for a day.

ROWLAND: Although Rudy survived his gun injury two months ago and shows no brain damage, he will be blind in one eye for life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROWLAND: The National Rifle Association was critical of the study, saying it was too small to draw any conclusions. And also since the study was conducted in a hospital, they said the children would assume it was a safe environment so they would not have been afraid of the gun.

But, Leon, we understand the way the study was done, the kids thought their parents were in a study. They didn't know what it was about. The children were asked to wait in another room and play with some toys that were on a shelf, not go and explore in the drawers. And you could see from the video that that's what they did.

HARRIS: Well, you mentioned the NRA. I want to ask you something about a stance that they have, because I've interviewed a number of members of it, of that group, and they say that education is the main thing that would keep this sort of thing from happening. Did the study address that at all? What do you think?

ROWLAND: The study did not address it and they have the Eddie Eagle Program, which is taught in many venues.

HARRIS: Right. ROWLAND: But the researchers who we talked to said that they have asked the NRA if they could study the program to see if it actually works, if it works in preventing these gun related injuries. And we asked the NRA what their response was to that and what they said is there is no substitute for adult supervision. So even the NRA says adults need to be responsible.

HARRIS: Well, the children that were in this study, were any of them a part of that Eddie the Eagle program or had they received any gun education themselves or...

ROWLAND: Excellent question, because apparently 90 percent of the children in the study had had some kind of gun education, 90 percent. And as we mentioned, only one of the groups actually left the room to come and tell an adult. The others all played with the gun and half of them, again, did not know if the gun was real or a toy.

HARRIS: Interesting. Interesting. It's rather gripping information.

ROWLAND: It is.

HARRIS: Well, thanks much. We appreciate that.

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