swimming pool safety drowning
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By Dr. Latebloomer

In the news recently, was another celebrity toddler drowning. As horrible as that is, this tragedy was one of over 3500 unintentional drownings that occur yearly in the U.S. , not counting boating accidents. Skier Bode Miller‘s family experienced a similar heartache just last year.

Why am I bringing up these horrible toddler deaths on a gun page? Because child death by drowning is a far bigger problem than child death by firearms. In fact as the CDC itself states: “Drowning is responsible for more deaths among children 1-4 than any other cause except congenital anomalies (birth defects). Among those 1-14, fatal drowning remains the second-leading cause of unintentional injury-related death behind motor vehicle crashes.”

Yet you wouldn’t know that by the amount of noise we hear from the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical societies about firearms versus what we hear about water safety.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently updated their policy statement regarding drowning and has a web page which includes a list of Swim Safety Tips.

The tips run the gamut from ways to secure your pool, to CPR training for adults, to safety equipment that should be available near a pool.

You know what is conspicuously absent from all of this advice? Telling parents to NOT have a pool, to NOT buy a boat, and to NEVER EVER go to the beach or lake.

Another conspicuous absence is the lobbying of government officials to place ever greater restrictions on swimming pools, boats, and bodies of natural water large and small, and even to ban some pools and boats completely.

Also absent is the demonization of the bathtub industry and the pool lobby, bills to sue pool manufacturers for deaths that they callously enable, and the advice to grill other parents about their pool habits and if there is any standing water or toilets where children play.

Absent are the histrionics asking WHY these people they think they need a death lagoon in their own backyard. Absent is the lobbying to ban killer assault wave parks. Haven’t they heard of air conditioning?  Don’t they have a sprinkler? Haven’t they paid city taxes to have a public pool with lifeguards? Only the government should have control of such dangerous bodies of water!

Yet Organized Medicine in general, and the AAP in particular do all of the above and worse when it comes to firearms–despite the fact that vastly more children die every year in accidental drownings than die in accidental shootings.

It is a summer ritual for many children to participate in swimming lessons as soon as school gets out for the summer. Parents want their kids to be safer around the water, and to learn to enjoy it rather than be afraid of it. So why isn’t there a similar push to get children into summer gun safety classes? Shouldn’t we be as diligent about teaching children firearm use and safety as we are about teaching them to swim?

In truth, accidental firearms injuries have been dropping for decades–due largely to the efforts of the firearms community–NOT Organized Medicine. In contrast, child drowning rates have apparently not budged in recent years.

Here’s an idea–perhaps the medical community needs to focus more on where the ACTUAL dangers to children lie and stop trying to undermine the Constitutional rights of lawful citizens. Maybe then we’d ALL be safer.

 

’Dr. LateBloomer’ is the pen name of a female general pediatrician (MD, MPH, FAAP) who enjoys competitive shooting sports, including IDPA, USPSA and 3-Gun.  Evil semi-automatic firearms are her favorites. 

This article originally appeared at drgo.us and is reprinted here with permission. 

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146 COMMENTS

    • I recall reading that one of the arguments against early steam powered trains going faster than horses was that some math whiz calculated the Venturi effect would suck the air out of the cars and asphyxiate the passengers.

      • It was also a “known fact” that traveling that fast would cause women’s uteri to just fall right out of their bodies.

        • Bad example. Bode’s daughter drown in a neighbor’s unsecured pool. If anything, your poor analog is one for mandatory gun storage laws.

          Or maybe your example is deliberate. You could be a troll.

        • Gerrymander wtf is an unsecured pool? If it holds water it’s loaded. No better toddler death trap has ever been devised by humans. Near me a toddler drowned last year by walking into a neighbors house via the front door, through the house and into the backyard. Like a bug to a glowing bulb they just want to get at em.

          Not sure why I am even responding to your lame attempt to obfuscate the hypocrisy of you and yours.

        • “Gerrymander wtf is an unsecured pool?”

          Are you being deliberately obstinate, or just being unbelievably stupid?

          An unsecured pool is a pool without a locked gate that keeps some little kid from just wandering over to it and getting in it and drowning…

        • BAD Parenting, I learned to swim around the same time I learned to walk. I didn’t drown because I could swim! My children all learned to swim under a year old as well. Guess what, they didn’t drown. Parents, if your child of almost any age can’t swim, they then could easily drown. It is the parents responsibility to make sure their children can handle a dip in the pool with it being their last.

      • This is what led to the mandatory 6mph speed limit and the requirement to have a man with a red flag walking in front of every car to warn pedestrians of their progress. In the UK, in the early years of the 20th century. This was a real thing. Then rich people began to drive, and that rule faded away.

    • Let’s make that 30 MPH and thousands of dogs, cats, deer and squirrels would be saved too.

      • I often think that people should be able to drive their age. I know that when I get close to the end, I don’t want to die in transit. Let me get where I’m going, then the Lord can take me. It would also keep the teenagers out of trouble.

        • How about doubling a driver’s age for their maximum operating speed on a public road? When they reach 70, we could then half it. But no more licensed drivers after 80, though! Half-joking, here.

        • like my grandfather, peacefully, in his sleep. not screaming in terror, over the cliff’s edge, like the three passengers in his car.

      • “Let’s make that 30 MPH and thousands of dogs, cats, deer and squirrels would be saved too.”

        And Possums.

        Save the marsupial ones!

        • In New Zealand, our possums (originally imported from Australia in some long forgotten fur industry attempt) are pests, killing our native birds and lizards, and spreading bovine TB through our dairy herds. There used to be paid hunting for these cute looking, but destructive critters. Night shooting with lamps is popular here, but the recent semi auto ban might affect it, though rimfires aren’t affected, mostly.

  2. This a standard question that asks why someone needs this and ducks the real issue which is because I want it, can pay for it, and it is not illegal. One of my acquaintances told me “nobody needs 6000 rounds of ammo” and I told him he doesn’t get to make that call for me.

    • Dude; you better stock up! I have that much in 9mm. And WAY more in .22lr.
      Still working on 12 gage and .410.

    • Same in northern Wisconsin. Neighbors near our cabin say…”I have (inherited) my dad’s hunting rifle. No one needs more than that.” No one needs more than one box for deer season, either. They don’t care if there’s registration either. The place is full of democrats…geeeeeze, I never knew until recently.

      • Nobody needs more than one house or car…
        only real needs are water and food…clean air is good, too…shelter helps but is not an absolute
        everything else are wants, not needs…

        • I’ll agree with the necessity for water. You can’t make scotch (another necessity) without it.

        • “Nobody needs more than one house or car…”

          On the stump a few days back, Bernie Sanders said this :

          “Bernie Sanders: Don’t Need 23 Choices of Deodorant, 18 Choices of Sneakers When Kids Are Going Hungry”

          https://reason.com/2015/05/26/bernie-sanders-dont-need-23-choices-of-d/

          Yeah, I bet Bernie Sanders wishes the government could dictate the means of manufacturing production, just like the old communist USSR did.

          Because the all-powerful government knows better than you do, stupid citizen, and can decide what’s best for you as to how many choices you should be allowed to make in the grocery store when shopping.

          It blows my mind as to how many people actually do believe that shit…

      • Yes it is. Lots of folks who think the 2A is about hunting, trap, NRA shooting sports. And the rest is just bad stuff. They do not and never will get it.

  4. All I have to say is “watch yer kids”! Especially when mommy is tasked to watch the kids because daddy is a celebritard “athlete”. Yeah I have 4 sons-44,41,26 and 24 years of age. None died from a stupid pool…and my eldest is an Army vet who served in the perilous mideast. Sorry you’re a stupid dipshite if your kid offs himself with your gat…

    • I’m surprised my kids survived. No one fell out of the trees. No one died sledding down our hill. No one died on the bike going no-hands down driveway. No one died burning plastic army men (tho one son almost lost an eye. I’m glad we didn’t have a pool…it would have been interesting. (N.B. an apple tree is a great place to hide if you want to ditch school/miss the bus.)

      • a pool is far and away the easiest way to exercise…was never in better shape than when I owned that thing…miss it immensely!…..

        • a decent road bicycle is a great second as a way of keeping in shape AND getting about on the cheap. Far more portable than a death lagoon, too.

  5. This fantastic comparison emphasizes the FACT that the overwhelming majority of gun-grabbers operate almost entirely on emotion and to a lesser extent on fantasy and their arbitrary notion of virtue.

    The core problem: those gun grabbers who operate on emotion are quite happy to pay a LOT of money to agents who act on behalf of those gun grabbers to violently impose their will upon us.

    (Gun grabbers pay thousands of dollars in taxes to government whose enforcers violently impose the will of the majority on the masses, regardless of whether the will of the majority violates the U.S. Constitution or Natural Rights.)

    • If your virtuous feelings require peaceful people to be forced into compliance at gunpoint, you might be a progressive.

    • Most of them are under the stupid delusion that their idiotic opinion matters to anybody else. It doesn’t. Unless you have achieved some high honour through courage, integrity, or sacrifice for your fellow man, then your opinion is worth nothing. Being elected to public office doesn’t count, because the people who seek power should never be allowed to have it, and the system is so rife with corruption that every single politician is tarred with the same brush. Nobody can be a politician and retain their integrity.

  6. Owning a swimming pool is not guaranteed by the US Constitution. End of discussion.

    • Property is an unalienable right to many of us, that whole pursuit of happiness thing in the DoI. The government has no business denying anyone pursuit of happiness as long as it isn’t infringing on other’s happiness.

      • Right to property was included in several of the predecessor state charters n compacts, and considered for the US constitution.

        • Guns are included under “the pursuit of happiness”, because, as John Lennon said: “Happiness is a warm gun”. He was part of a Richard Lester movie filmed in Spain, and enjoyed firing a Sten gun for his role. He also wrote about “Bungalow Bill” hunting tigers in India, where he spent some time listening to a weirdo.

      • Zoning and building codes are long accepted restrictions on property rights. While a federal ban would be unconstitutional since it’s not one of their powers, a city or county could refuse permits for residential in-ground pools. Non-permanent above ground and inflatable pools could still used, but they could be killed off by lawsuits and the feds via interstate commerce, as was done with lawn darts.

    • I think the big point here is that “the right to keep and bare arms” was so important that not only did the Founding Fathers enumerate this right but did so in a separately listed right in the Bill of Rights and is the only place in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights where the phrase, “shall not be infringed” is used.

      No where in either of document or the additional Amendments are swimming pools SPECIFICALLY addressed.

        • Thanks. I have had cancer spots removed painfully from my lower arms due to “baring arms” and hanging them out the window while driving in summer heat (before air conditioning).

  7. Nobody needs a high cubic foot/capacity assault pool,even if it saves one kids life it’s for the kiddies.
    Thankfully It’s entitled Bill of Rights,not the bill of needs.

  8. It’s entirely the parents responsibility. When we decide it isn’t rights are infringed. If your kid drowns in a pool it’s your fault, same with shooting themselves, being shot by a friend, getting hit by a car or getting lost.

  9. I’m 100% pro gun, but I don’t like arguments like this one. The reason it’s different is because you can’t drown ME with YOUR pool. If you are afraid of pools, you can voluntarily “opt out” of having one or being around them…nobody can bring their pool to the office and drown me with it.

    There are lots of great pro-gun arguments…I just don’t think this is one of them. Now if you’ll excuse me…I’m off to the range. 🙂

    • You’re right right, they won’t bring their pool, they’ll just bring almost any legal item and kill you with that instead. Also, if you read the article, the author is talking about children and pools/guns, not bringing pools/guns to the office.

    • You do realize that this isn’t intended to be the grand unified theory of gun rights, right? It’s merely a narrow counter argument to the idea that risk to children is why we have to get rid of guns, and that we’re uncaring monsters if we don’t.

      Except when it comes to risk, everything we do (and don’t do) in life has risks associated with it. In the case of the anti-civil rights crowd and their risk argument, they are being blatantly disingenuous because they don’t actually care about risk, it’s just an excuse and convenient talking point, and never a calm rationed point. Otherwise, as the counter argument goes, they’d be against pools even more strongly.

    • Really Dood? U can’t just appreciate the tenor of the article? U know, just enjoy the obvious sarcasm yet very pointed comparison to political, anti-gun ‘idiot-ology”?

      Can’t we all just get along?

  12. The word “Need” is often misapplied where the word “RIGHT” should be used. There is a RIGHT to Keep and Bear Arms. Whether or not there is also a Need is entirely besides the point, off-topic and a very great distraction. You may well have a Need, but that does not matter, only the RIGHT matters to the question at hand.

    About swimming pools, when I married a lady with a toddler little girl (instant family, BOOM!) and we wanted a house, we also wanted a pool. Child drownings were in the news so awareness was high. So, researched it. Found the metal fence around the pool was well within design specs from various safety groups and the local fire/rescue/EMS agency. But the gate itself was crap.

    So, put in the money and elbow grease and got that up to snuff before moving in. Taught our girl how to be safe, also enrolled our little sweetie pie in swim class as early as possible. Today she is in college!

    That’s how you keep kids safe. Make yourself knowledgeable in the topic, teach them well and provide the physical methods needed for the given area of concern.

    And yes, we wanted that pool for fun and exercise and enjoyed many a hot summer’s weekend and weekday recreation centered around it. Was very good for physical fitness for all. So, guess there was a need for the thing after all, not just a desire.

    • I really NEED !!! to slander my neighbor. He is a Progressive. Therefor, from my point of view, there is no moral boundary whatsoever to any harm I can think of doing to him or his reputation. /sarc end/

      Tragically, the 1A does NOT include slander in the right to bear false witness against one’s neighbor. (Nor, for that matter, does MY moral code; however irrelevant that might be to a public policy discussion.)

      So, some folks will have to struggle with their need to slander their neighbors. They have no right to do so. Likewise, they will have to struggle with lots of other needs that they can’t fulfill without treading on the rights of others.

      Life in civilized society is a never ending struggle to discover the boundaries among the rights of some vs. the needs of others. E.g., property rights and the need of others to drive a nice car or live in a nice house.

  13. That’s not the real reason that the left wants to get rid of people’s guns who support the Constitution. If it does come down to a civil war, defending yourself with a firearm is indeed possible, but on the other hand it’s kind of hard to throw a pool at someone, especially if it’s an underground one.

    • “… but on the other hand it’s kind of hard to throw a pool at someone, ”

      Just because you lack imagination doesn’t mean it can’t be done. 😉

  14. Summer of ’77. Just graduated high school and was visiting family in Mississippi. I was at Manor Creek Park cooling off. A little girl was on an innertube in about 5′ of water. She might have been 5 or 6 y.o.a. I thought to myself, “She shouldn’t be that far out.” At that moment she jumped into the water. And went straight down. I began walking to her and, like in a dove field when you knock down a bird, never took my eyes off the spot. She struggled to the top a couple more times then nothing. When I got to the spot the water was up to my chin. I took a breath, bent over at the waist and made a big sweep with my right arm. I caught her across the midsection. She was floating about 2′ off the bottom. When she could breathe she coughed a lung full of water into my face and started crying. No one else had seen a thing. As I waded ashore a man came running to meet me. Mom wasn’t far behind. I gave them a thumbnail sketch of what had happened. Fast forward a couple of decades. I bought a house with an in ground pool. I had small children. I also had firearms. Guess which one I was most concerned about when it came to my children’s safety.

    • yeah buddy. well attended pool party, most of the kids were all under ten still. one of my buddy’s five boys is spotted face down at the bottom, deep end. nobody saw a thing. he came around but man, that’ll sober up a crew right quick.
      years later the owner drained the pool for cleaning. didn’t know better, the walls caved with no water pressure pushing on them.

  16. The Drs last sentence is gold. Yes, focus on the real problems, and leave our nights alone. Unfortunately this will fall on deaf ears as the AAP has ties to the pharmaceutical industry which is in the process of using the government to force dangerous products on the public against their will.

    • Are you ever going to converse with anyone in TTAG about, you know, guns?

      Nope, the one-trick-pony Pg2 only babbles about anti-vaxx bullshit.

      Dance, Pg2. I order you to respond to this comment…

    • Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the highly reactive hydroxyl radical, a species shown to mutate DNA, denature proteins, disrupt cell membranes, and chemically alter critical neurotransmitters. The atomic components of DHMO are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.
      For more detailed information, including precautions, disposal procedures and storage requirements, refer to one of the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) available for DHMO:

        • You should check out the DHMO site. It is a great example of how twisting around descriptive terms you can make something as benign as water to sound like a life threatening chemical that need to be banned worldwide. Not unlike how guns are treated and attacked.
          However in this case it is satirical

          https://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

        • Ever worse, DHMO is an evil chemical that can be synthesized in a laboratory. And everyone knows chemicals are bad for you and should never be consumed in any form…

  19. Nothing more than a slick propaganda article totally ignoring the 1,300 childrens deaths a year that are preventable with a little common sense , something the average low I.Q. Gun owner never had and never will have as most are shiftless irresponsible , indolent morons. Safe Storage laws would reduce the accidental shootings and reduce the suicides by a huge margin. As one Paramedic said and I quote ” I have saved many suicide victims that tried to take an overdose on drugs or even hang themselves or drown themselves but I have yet to save a child that found an unattended gun and blew his brains out”. NOW TRY TO REFUTE THE PARAMEDICS STATEMENT AS THEIR IS NO RIGHT WIG LIE YOU COME UP WITH THAT WILL SOUND EVEN PLAUSIBLE LET ALONE TRUTHFUL.

    By the way I do not have a pool and never would have one as I have seen children drown in them because even with parents there it can happen in an instant and without parents there it does happen to children and its only a matter of time before some kid crawls over or under a fence and falls in and drowns and some morons do not even have fences. Usually the ones that do not have fences are guess who? Gun owners. As Einstein said” There is a limit to a gun owners intelligence but a gun owners stupidity is infinite. That is why we need safe storage laws that force the “unwashed” into behaving like responsible adults and if that is not acceptable then normal people will get fed up and just ban guns altogether proving a gun owner is always his own worst enemy.

    • Sounds like you drowned in a pool a few times. You clearly have a history of hypoxia. Maybe it’s just your autoasphyxiation habit. I DARE YOU TO REFUTE THIS PARAMEDIC’S STATEMENT!!!! A paramedic with a history of responding to calls from Vlad’s house said “I have saved many suicide victims with much to live for but I can’t think of one reason for Vlad to keep breathing and I don’t know why he’s so bad at this. How hard is it to remember to go down the road not across the street?”

      (My response has just as many citations and sources as Vlad the self-impaler.)

    • So, ban everything that could hurt a child? Life is risky, now I understand the left’s fixation on abortion. Save a child by killing it before it’s born. God Damn, that’s brilliant.

    • My mommy told me no again so I am wearing my big girl panties on my head. I hate my mommy!

      • Vlad…don’t want a gun? Don’t buy a gun.
        That’s the dem/lib argument about abortion.
        With great rights come great responsibilities. You can’t mandate morality.
        As for gun storage? I agree. Keep guns secured when not in use or at least within reach. Others may disagree.
        But people have differing ideas. If you have no kids, your house IS your locked storage container.
        Do you put your other valuables in a safe every night? Do you consider your locked house secure when you leave it…or even when you are there?

    • To BLAB TEPID
      “Nothing more than a slick propaganda article totally ignoring the 1,300 childrens deaths a year that are preventable with a little common sense , something the average low I.Q. Gun owner never had and never will have as most are shiftless irresponsible , indolent morons.”

      So says the one time janitor at a federal building whose I.Q. was under 90. How you ever worked in civil service is beyond me. But I digress. Some of us low I.Q. gun owners have a lot more money than you ever will have and with that money we have a lot more power to influence others of our ilk. Your influence is a glob of spit on the filthy streets of S.F. where you wallow in… I hope you have the brains to finish the sentence – but then again I’m an optimist. FYI, a gun safe is where they stored the sperm that created you. It’s never to be opened. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

      Your taste is in your ass.

      • Reply to Eli Whitless

        “Your taste is in your ass.”

        Your brains (what little you have of them) are in your ass.

        Just keep ignoring reality when it does not fit your political agenda. And I used to think that Trump was the biggest Mental Midget in this country.

      • when I worked in a federal building most of the cleaning people came from goodwill…and were not the brightest bulbs in the pack…..

    • What makes you think you need a swimming pool for kids to drown? Haven’t you ever seen a 5 gallon bucket. Never bothered to look at the picture of the drowning toddler on the side? Do you have any buckets or are you just a death merchant peddling a false sense of security?

      • Vlad… the general rule in writing is: if you say “and I quote” … the next bit shouldn’t be wholly fabricated from your imagination, but an actual quote.

        I won’t argue the points in your post, because it was all just Trollish and I don’t speak that language very well.

    • What a boring life you must lead! To avoid everything because of what MIGHT happen! Do not get out of bed, in the morning, you might trip over your slippers and bang your head on the dresser.
      Do get up at the crack of dawn so you can miss being struck by a meteor while “safely” tucked in your bed!

      • Quite the opposite. No time to be bored when you’ve seen/done/experienced all that Vlad has. Guy is a subject expert on everything just wowing all of us in the “outhouse Bodine mouthbreather” gang with his never ending insight into all things ever. If you can think it by god Vlad has already done it no less than 3 times. Why any of would even bother to attempt to live our own lives or think for ourselves when we are lucky enough to have such a source of knowledge and inspiration is beyond me. All hail comrade Vlad and his never ending guidance!

      • I routinely see 50 year old men tooling around on a bicycle wearing a helmet so they don’t bump their head. I find it ridiculous

  20. No one really needs hot dogs or cigarettes or alcohol or over the counter medicine. All those things hurt and kill people. Some of those things kill in much greater numbers than people with firearms. No rush to ban these things? I’m shocked!
    Bloomberg clearly doesn’t care about all the children dying in pools and choking to death on hot dogs. What a heartless savage he is.

    • I ran a life expectancy calculator the other day, and was docked a couple years for not having 2-7 drinks/week…

      • Some studies show wine (reservatrol) drinking in moderation can provide health benefits that extend life. Having coffee was considered bad for blood pressure but now is shown to protect the brain. Then look at folks who’ve lived past a hundred and there are smokers and drinkers in that group. I spent a decent period of time eating high cholesterol foods and no matter what I can’t spike my bad cholesterol levels. Too many variables to accurately estimate how much time any individual has.

        • To Jericho

          “Then look at folks who’ve lived past a hundred and there are smokers and drinkers in that group”

          I have heard that statement too many times in my life. The reality is you could win the lottery today but in reality you have more of a chance to do just that than to live out your normal life span if you smoke. The Stats are there for all to see its no secret and its not rocket science and I have seen many a person die early from smoking and many more, many more live a lot longer that did not smoke and or drink too. It was found by science 40 years ago that if you smoke and drink the poisons combine to form an additional 4,000 cancer causing poisons in your body and a drinker and smoker has a very low chance of living out a normal life span.

        • To BLAB TEPID

          “I have heard that statement too many times in my life. The reality is you could win the lottery today but in reality you have more of a chance to do just that than to live out your normal life span if you smoke.”

          But you cleaned toilets for 20+ years and you’re still mentally deficient. See where I’m going with this? We’ll get back to it in a later post.

          Your taste is in your ass.

        • To Eli Whitless

          “”””””””””””””””””Your taste is in your ass.”””””””””””””””””””

          Your brains (what little you have) are in your ass.

    • We don’t need alcohol? I beg to differ, sir. After I read some of the drivel from the trolls on these pages, a stiff drink is a necessity.

  22. Considering the world-wide water crisis, having a pool shouldn’t even be allowed, think of the world. Nobody should be able to hoard that much water, especially in such an unsafe manner. And, there would be no Constitutional right violated in prohibiting pools. It’s time to do SOMETHING…, there oughta be a law! Do it for the children, if it saves even just one life!

    • “Considering the world-wide water crisis, having a pool shouldn’t even be allowed, think of the world. Nobody should be able to hoard that much water, especially in such an unsafe manner. And, there would be no Constitutional right violated in prohibiting pools. It’s time to do SOMETHING…, there oughta be a law! Do it for the children, if it saves even just one life!”

      I know your post was meant in jest but realistically without you even realizing it that day is already here with global warming in many areas of the world including the U.S. as the water crisis is already here and getting more precarious with each passing year.

      • We all know you commies would target anyone wealthy enough to own a pool for pillage & murder.

        You know what kills lots of children? Mass starvation, executions, collapse of the medical system, and compulsory service in mindless wars. All traits of your beloved communism in practice.

        • To Barn Brain

          “””””””””””””””””””””””‘You know what kills lots of children? Mass starvation, executions, collapse of the medical system, and compulsory service in mindless wars. All traits of your beloved communism in practi””””””””””””””””””””””””

          Ha that was a scream. If anything we have a total collapse of the medical system because what good is a medical system when it is so expensive no one can afford it or life saving drugs. And by the way genius if you were not so damn ignorant one of the reasons Obama established normalized relations with Cuba (until that fking Idiot Trump sabotaged it) was to gain access to the medical knowledge the Cuban’s now have because of their medical studies. NOW TELL ME SOCIALIST COUNTRIES HAVE FAILED MEDICAL SYSTEMS. I think before you run off at the mouth you had better study what other countries that are Socialistic have already achieved. I could write you a whole page of them but in your ignorance you would claim the other countries therefore cannot be Socialistic. Funny Cuba and the European Countries would laugh in your face. Denmark laughed their asses off when Trump offered them citizenship simply because they were white and fit in with his racist views. One of the reasons given (besides our high crime rate) was that they stated ( We like living in our Socialist Country just fine).

          And in your complete ignorance of history about “forced participation in wars”. Ha who are you trying to fking bullshit. We had a draft in our war of rape, pillage and conquest of Vietnam which the majority did not want to participate in but in Vietnam none of their citizens had to be forced to fight, they volunteered to the point where many of the physically challenged and or unfit actually cheated on the tests to get themselves into the military. Stay out of discussing history you obviously flunked it in school.

    • actually makes your home safer if there are no hydrants nearby…as the fire dept’s will admit…

      • If it would just save 600,000 lives…

        …for the children.

        BTW, liberals are sick.

  24. Cars and pools are two of the biggest killers of children. Congress should ban anyone under 18 from swimming or driving/riding in any vehicles until they’re old enough to risk their own lives. Walking is better for their long term health.

  25. With great rights come great responsibilities…
    if you have a pool and kids…get a fence…get an alarm…keep an eye on the kids at all times
    have guns and kids…same thing…keep the guns secured when not in your possession…keep an eye on the kids
    same goes for knives…medicines…laundry supplies…pool supplies…alcohol…etc etc etc
    kids can and will get into just about anything
    all houses/apartments should have locking medicine cabinets…locking laundry supply cabinets…a secure place to lock guns/valuables…
    whether you use them or not would be your choice

    • To Cav

      “With great rights come great responsibilities…
      if you have a pool and kids…get a fence…get an alarm…keep an eye on the kids at all times
      have guns and kids…same thing…keep the guns secured when not in your possession…keep an eye on the kids
      same goes for knives…medicines…laundry supplies…pool supplies…alcohol…etc etc etc
      kids can and will get into just about anything
      all houses/apartments should have locking medicine cabinets…locking laundry supply cabinets…a secure place to lock guns/valuables…
      whether you use them or not would be your choice”

      Good God an intelligent poster. Now this is truly a miracle on this forum.

      • To BLAB TEPID

        “Good God an intelligent poster. Now this is truly a miracle on this forum.”

        Funny. I thought you were an intelligent poster. I’m so sorry I took you for intelligent. I meant shit hole poster.

      • I kinda figured you be in mourning today over the pathetic & pointless death of your Leroy Jenkins comrade who charged the ICE facility. You guys really don’t value your own at all, so why should we believe your policy suggestions are founded in real concern?

    • How about you take care of your kids, baby proof the world around them if you feel it’s necessary and I will take care of my children.
      Since my kids are not retarded, my wife and I were able to teach them not to eat any of the stuff that’s under the sink, to swim, to use knives and yes – even to shoot guns. That way we don’t need locks all around our house. (Not even on the stove gas knobs. I see you forgot those and one day you’ll find a nice crater where your house used to stand.)

  26. “Death lagoon”.
    Serious story of course, but I had a good belly laugh.
    Glad I haven’t lost my dark humor.

  27. The difference is that no nation has ever had it’s government overthrown by the masses rising up bearing swimming pools. Guns pose a threat to state power, which is why some of the wisest men ever born of women saw fit to include the right to keep and bear arms in our Bill of Rights. And why those who advocate for the supremacy of the collective over individual rights will always oppose an armed citizenry. It’s also why they have such a hard on for the AR15 – in their limited knowledge of firearms they see a civilian variation of the nation’s infantry rifle in civilian hands as a bridge that’s just way too far. Toddlers drowning just isn’t a concern of theirs.

    • This guy gets it./\
      Crime, accidents and suicides using guns are only a pretense used by gun grabbers to pull heart strings. Real reason for every attempt to disarm the populace is to get more power for the state and to take the power from us, the people. They know we will not stand still for the things they plan to do, so they have to disarm us first.

  28. Bought and paid for Orgs like Moms Demand Action and Governors against guns just don’t care about other causes AND higher death rates as its not the kids that really matter. CDC and the JAMA have transitioned to political anti-gun mouthpieces: overflowing with opinions and cherry picked statistics while deliberately ignoring facts. Hell, only six States mandate Seat Belts on School Buses but none require them to be fastened before the bus moves. Kids lives matter to activist Moms and politicians: Nope, just banning guns and the elimination of the 2A.

  30. Liberals: Pools? Ok, we guess we can let you have your pool. It’s those deadly accessories like diving boards, slides, and fun noodles that you don’t get to keep anymore. You don’t need those. Or a deep end. We can have a discussion and talk compromise about the deep end and you can explain why you need it.

    • No one needs a deep, high capacity pool. We need to pass commonsense measures to restrict pool capacity to knee deep. For the children!

  31. I’d bet that if everybody shot had medical insurance the CDC would be staunch supporters of gunm rights

  32. I never had or wanted one swimming pool until I read this article. I didn’t realize they were “Death Lagoons”. Now I want two of them. No, make that I need two of them.

  33. I have had a “death lagoon” since way before my grandson was born. He’s 10 now and is out there in said lagoon with friends, swimming like a fish.

    As it is with guns, the same with water. Education is key.

  34. I think this was about accidental deaths. But yes the Left have an item everyone knows about so it makes it easy to blame. Just the middle East likes to blame all their word on the Great Satan ( us). most people don’t have guns but they do have cars and can’t do without. When I was a kid we had school gun clubs,we had fun racks in our pickups and we even had HOLLYWOOD heroes that went around the country talking about fun safety and how be responsible with guns. They even talked about it to us on their TV shows.Now the hollywood types make $Millions off the illicit use of firearms in their movies while saying we should disarm. ( Of course they want to keep their ARMED GUARDS)

  35. I have a high capacity assault pond in my front yard. Put in as the primary local water source for the Vol FD in small town.

  36. Any set of parents that have a pool and a toddler that don’t get a pool safety fence put in are irresponsible idiots.

    Even if you already fence in your backyard and have door alarms. My backyard looked like it had a cattle run in it until my son was 7. Both of us were former lifeguards.

    I’m terribly sorry for all those who have lost children in this or any way.

    But, this is an intelligent anti anti argument. Pools dont kill people. Irresponsible people kill people.

    • Irresponsible people allow other people to be in dangerous situations. The other people or their parents or children that get hurt or die or partially at fault.

  37. I didn’t have a pool growing up. I lived one street from the pond. That street being Sheridan Road. Had I known how dangerous that pond was I never would have crossed the road. Heck, if I realized how dangerous the road was I never would have walked in that direction.

  38. Somehow, in all the discussions about pools and guns, you folks have missed the obvious.
    We have a right to guns, We have a right to own pools. We have an unequaled opportunity to have a safe, enjoyable way to combine the two.
    What do I read here every time the matter of confiscation comes up? “They were lost in a boating accident”.
    Join the two together, and practice your “boating accident” in a safe manner, IN THE POOL! Practice until you can’t get it wrong. When the time comes, you’ll be ready for a flawless performance.

    Unfortunately for me, not one handgun, rifle, or shotgun will go down the bathtub drain. I almost got my wife’s 380 to fit down the toilet, but she had to use it.
    What’s a “No Pool Fool” ever to do?
    I’m stymied.

    • I have one for home defense. It’s a tangible reason for visiting Las Vegas often. We can keep the loonies in check. Geese mark you almost had it.

  41. People who cite drowning deaths as a rebuttal to the gun control laws are assuming the gun control side actually cares about children, public safety, or the truth.

    • “People who cite drowning deaths as a rebuttal to the gun control laws are assuming the gun control side actually cares about children, public safety, or the truth.”

      I concur with this statement. As a retired civil servant who cleaned toilets in the District Court Federal Building in San Francisco I overheard many things in the bathroom. Aside from grunts and groans. I can assure you that Liberals are far cleaner than conservatives. They wipe twice and always flush the toilet after. Liberals throw away their needles after 3 attempts at shooting meth. You can’t be anymore hygenic than that.

      Your I.Q. must be at least the same as mine. 90, right? You and I are friends. I bet our trailer parks are close to each other and we both live with Mommy. Or, do you live in the sewers? No problem. I like the sewers. It reminds me of the job I once did. I gave all my pennies to Bernie so he can win the election. How about you?

  42. From either side in the debate, I have yet to hear whether the US Constitution’s “right to the pursuit of happiness” trumps any objection to the Second Amendment.

    Nothing much makes me happier than to see an evil paper target being obliterated by well placed gunfire. The waft of gunsmoke is an added bonus.

    And who could deny me that pleasure? Who am I harming?

    • What have that poor innocent paper ever done to you? Can’t you shoot steel that can take it? The ringing sound of your hits will make you even happier!
      ‘Happiness is belt fed weapon.’

  43. Steel dishes on trees confuse the wood peckers. One poor bird had bent it’s beak. We moved the dish I even fed them all thru a winter. I give love easily. It’s a mans world.

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