Gun violence third leading cause of death for US's children

[laPapessaGiovanna]

Last monday the CDC published a report according to which guns are the third leading cause of death for US children. If it were an illness with the same level of preventability as gun violence we would be talking about an horrifying epidemic and demanding vaccines. As a foreigner I'll never ever understand this aspect of US culture. As a mom I am shocked. I can imagine that many look at the stats and think that it won't happen to their own children because they are white, their family isn't violent or abusive and they stay away from dangerous neighbourhoods and from the wrong friends. But the callousness of this reasoning is breathtakingly frightening.

https://www.google.it/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/opinions/children-are-dying-because-of-americas-lax-gun-policies/2017/06/20/21935b94-55c2-11e7-b38e-35fd8e0c288f_story.html

Quote

Nearly 1,300 children are killed and nearly 6,000 injured every year. That is more than three children killed a day and more than 15 children a day treated for gunshot wounds.

...

A 4-year-old girl in South Carolina was accidentally shot to death Friday by her 6-year-old sibling. Two girls were wounded Friday in a shooting during a picnic at a Chicago elementary school. An 8-year-old boy in Mississippi was caught in gunfire and shot in the head Saturday while he slept in the back seat of his mother’s car. An 11-year-old Florida boy was taken to the hospital Saturday in grave condition after accidentally shooting himself in the eye. A 4-year-old Pennsylvania boy fatally shot himself Sunday after getting hold of a gun.

So commonplace are bloody weekends such as this in the United States that, according to the report published Monday in Pediatrics by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gun-related deaths are the third-leading cause of death overall among children ages 1 to 17 years. The study confirms previously released information but is the most comprehensive, with an examination of national databases that track death certificates, emergency-room visits and coroner and medical-examiner records. More than half of gun deaths were homicides, with many connected to domestic violence. Boys, particularly African Americans, were the most vulnerable to risk of gun homicide, and suicide, which accounted for more than a third of gun-related deaths, sharply increased from 2007 to 2014.

The report frames the impact of gun violence on children as a serious public-health problem that demands attention and scientifically sound solutions. 

...

The risk of suicide increases in homes where guns are kept unlocked and loaded, and a previous analysis of school shootings by Everytown for Gun Safety showed that more than half the perpetrators obtained guns from home. There are no laws at the federal level making it a crime to leave a firearm accessible to a child, and, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, just 14 stateshave laws that make adults criminally liable for negligently storing firearms when a child gains access. 

And here you can find a link to the study by the CDC.

I thought of bumping the old thread about gun control but it was inactive for more than a year and already 21 pages long. Feel free to merge though.

[Childless]

1 hour ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

Last monday the CDC published a report according to which guns are the third leading cause of death for US children. If it were an illness with the same level of preventability as gun violence we would be talking about an horrifying epidemic and demanding vaccines. As a foreigner I'll never ever understand this aspect of US culture. As a mom I am shocked. I can imagine that many look at the stats and think that it won't happen to their own children because they are white, their family isn't violent or abusive and they stay away from dangerous neighbourhoods and from the wrong friends. But the callousness of this reasoning is breathtakingly frightening.

https://www.google.it/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/opinions/children-are-dying-because-of-americas-lax-gun-policies/2017/06/20/21935b94-55c2-11e7-b38e-35fd8e0c288f_story.html

And here you can find a link to the study by the CDC.

I thought of bumping the old thread about gun control but it was inactive for more than a year and already 21 pages long. Feel free to merge though.

This is why I refuse to permit guns in my house.  We don't have them and no one is allowed to bring them inside.  At least this will prevent my kids from shooting themselves or someone else at home.  Doesn't lower their chances of being shot in public though.  My dream is to move to a safer country with universal healthcare and better primary and secondary educational systems so my children can have a better life.  Canada would be my first choice since it's closest and I could still visit extended family and friends relatively easily.  It's very hard to legally emigrate though.  Especially when both adults would need work visas and have to find jobs.  Perhaps someday we might accomplish it.

[candygirl200413]

I went to school in the south and so many would talk about how they had a gun inside their house. God forbid, even a kid with knowledge of "gun safety" could still slip up and accidentally shoot. I remember reading this nytimes @GreyhoundFan I think you might have uploaded, a while ago? But basically a family that grew up with guns and a grandchild shot himself or someone accidentally did, and they were like even though it happened we still love our guns!

[GreyhoundFan]

Guns in a home with children terrify me. I couldn't imagine having a gun, even unloaded, around a child. A good friend of mine (call her Linda) from high school was a paraplegic because her older sister (Tanya) got daddy's gun while being babysat and shot my Linda. Linda was seven years old and Tanya was eight. Family life in their home changed forever. They had to build a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor for Linda. They built a pool, so Linda could have her therapy at home. They had to buy a van and convert it to transport Linda's wheelchair. They had numerous medical expenses. Tanya often acted out inappropriately, I'm sure it was horrible to see her sister suffer and know she was the cause. That gun didn't stop a criminal, it ruined their family.

I am a woman who lives alone...well, my sweet pup lives here too! I used to work for a police department. Over the years, many officer encouraged me to buy a gun or three. My response was always, "do you really want me to have a gun?" They'd think about it and say, um, no. Too many guns end up being either stolen and used in a crime or being used against the owner, especially because a gun owner is awakened and only half-aware and hesitates, whereas the criminal is awake and perfectly willing to use the gun. I keep a baseball bat under my bed, within easy reach, along with legal bear spray, neither of which would I hesitate to deploy if someone broke in and threatened me.

[GrumpyGran]

1 hour ago, candygirl200413 said:

I went to school in the south and so many would talk about how they had a gun inside their house. God forbid, even a kid with knowledge of "gun safety" could still slip up and accidentally shoot. I remember reading this nytimes @GreyhoundFan I think you might have uploaded, a while ago? But basically a family that grew up with guns and a grandchild shot himself or someone accidentally did, and they were like even though it happened we still love our guns!

Because they truly love their guns more than they love their children.

[Childless]

On 21/6/2017 at 9:11 PM, GreyhoundFan said:

Guns in a home with children terrify me. I couldn't imagine having a gun, even unloaded, around a child. A good friend of mine (call her Linda) from high school was a paraplegic because her older sister (Tanya) got daddy's gun while being babysat and shot my Linda. 

Yep.  I went to school with a kid who accidentally shot his sister.  She ended up loosing part of her leg.  And yet, they still clung to their guns.  Idiots.

[Penny]

3 hours ago, GrumpyGran said:

Because they truly love their guns more than they love their children.

Exactly! But they will never see it that way. 

[Cartmann99]

11 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I keep a baseball bat under my bed, within easy reach, along with legal bear spray, neither of which would I hesitate to deploy if someone broke in and threatened me.

I bought a cast iron pizza pan recently. My first thought when I picked it up by one of the handles, was that I could probably kill an intruder if I threw it at their head. I believe it was @formergothardite who turned me onto cast iron cookware as a self-defense weapon. When my husband goes out of town for work, I sleep with one of my cast iron skillets on the floor next to the bed.

[formergothardite]

6 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

I believe it was @formergothardite who turned me onto cast iron cookware as a self-defense weapon

I do have to give the credit to Disney.  But yes, I'm pretty sure my cast iron cookware will be my weapon of choice should anyone try to break in. 

[Flossie]

One of my neighbors shot his brother accidentally when they were in high school.  After a day of bird hunting, two of the brothers were in the front of their pickup and the third was in the bed of the truck.  The brother in the back decided to unload the guns on the way home.  The truck hit some rough ground while it was leaving the dirt road and getting onto the paved highway, causing the boy in the back to accidentally shoot the gun through the back window of the truck and spraying the boy who was driving with buckshot.  

The boy who was driving didn't realize who had shot him, he thought it was some crazy hiding in the trees, so he threw himself to the side, accelerated and drove zig zagging down the road to make it more difficult for the shooter to get them again.  This caused the boy in the back to think that he'd killed his brother and the truck was now being driven by a dead teenager.  The sudden acceleration threw the boy in the back across the bed of the truck, so the boys up front thought he'd been shot, too.  A couple of miles down the road they figured they were far enough away to be safe, so they pulled over to take stock of the situation and realized what had happened.

Luckily, the boy who had been shot was only grazed and most of the buckshot was imbedded in the truck itself.  They made it to the hospital and doctors removed something like 40 buckshot from his back, shoulder, arm, and a couple from his scalp.  He made a full recovery.  You know that family never got rid of their guns?  Their house looked like they were hosting a gun show, with gun cabinets everywhere, all filled up.  The only concession they made was to agree to unload all their guns before driving home.

[GrumpyGran]

1 hour ago, formergothardite said:

I do have to give the credit to Disney.  But yes, I'm pretty sure my cast iron cookware will be my weapon of choice should anyone try to break in. 

Hahahahaha, ok now my head is spinning. Credit to Disney for the cookware or the idea of cast iron cookware as a weapon? 

[GreyhoundFan]

1 hour ago, GrumpyGran said:

Hahahahaha, ok now my head is spinning. Credit to Disney for the cookware or the idea of cast iron cookware as a weapon? 

From Tangled -- Rapunzel used her cast iron fry pan as a weapon.

 

[Flossie]

I've never seen that movie!  I think I might have to, now.

[GreyhoundFan]

2 minutes ago, Flossie said:

I've never seen that movie!  I think I might have to, now.

It's a good one. Typical of Disney, the music is great. I also love Maximus, the horse.

[AmazonGrace]

Not sure what the story is here (a bad prank?) but it appears to be real since Walmart responded and apologized.