Letter: Children, guns

To the editor:

Rights are hard-won, rights have limits, rights have consequences. In 2013, the Children’s Defense Fund issued a fact sheet on children and guns in the United States. Here are just a few sobering numbers out of a much longer list which is available on their website.

  1. The U.S. accounts for less than 5 percent of the global population but owns 35 percent to 50 percent of all civilian-owned guns in the world (310 million).

  2. Guns are the second leading cause of death for children and teens ages 1-19

  3. A child in the U.S., in this age group, is 67 times more likely to die because of a gun than a child in the U.K.

  4. Since 1963, over three times more children and teens died from guns on American soil than U.S. soldiers killed in action in wars abroad (171,933:52,816).  

Different groups like The Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence and Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America offer common-sense solutions to address this issue. Children need more protecting than guns. It’s a choice we can make.