December 31, 2014
Most years, more citizens are killed by toddlers with guns than terrorists in America. This time, the toddler shot his mom in a Walmart store. In November this year, 3 people were shot in 1 week by America’s toddlers. Toddlers shooting themselves rarely receive media attention.
Gun manufacturers have found really effective marketing tools for selling guns to children (like the pink “Crickett” for five year old‘s). While guns are manufactured all over the world, most guns are sold to American citizens as other nations (except Switzerland) have come to understand the consequences of unregulated marketing of firearms.
In 2010, 18,270 children were killed and injured by gunfire – over 100 accidentally.
Unrelated to guns, Florida reported almost five hundred child deaths that occurred after the children were reported to Child Protection Services.
To make matters worse for Florida children, laws were introduced making it illegal for pediatricians to ask a patient about guns in the house or if they were locked away separately from the ammunition (as a child safety issue). The gun lobby is pretty strong in Florida (the child health and safety lobby is not). The initial bill sought a five million dollar fine and five years in prison for asking a Floridian if there was a gun in the home (that is nuts, right?)
Among the industrialized nations, America has slid to near the bottom of almost every public health indicator with 20 times more gun homicides, and way more mass murders, violent crime, criminals, prisoners, and unsafe streets.
If we the people valued public health more, children more, safe streets more, maybe we could give the gun lobby a little more push-back and secure our communities from some of the sadness making the papers every day.
Watch and share KARA’S 2 minute documentary clip of Star Tribune reporter discussing the death of 4 year old Eric Dean
