Guns & Gun Violence

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Gun violence has become an epidemic in America, and children certainly aren’t immune from its effects. In fact, gun violence recently overtook car accidents to become the #1 killer of youth in the United States. To put things in perspective, currently an average of more than 120 Americans die each and every day from gun violence, compared o the 60-100 Ukrainian soldiers who are dying in the bloodiest days of the war with Russia. )The Week, 6-17-2022, p. 16)

Sadly, it’s getting to the point where some children are becoming accustomed to shootings as part of their everyday life. “It was my second shooting, so I was kind of prepared,” says 8-year-old baseball fan Faris Nunn, who got caught up in a shooting outside a baseball stadium. Just a day earlier, 6-year-old Nyiah Courney lost her life after being shot while walking with her family around 2.5 miles away. (The Week, 7-30-2021, p. 7)

Statistics don’t quite tell the full story of these tragedies. So this area covers some of the stories behind the statistics: How these tragedies happen, the nonsensical reasons they occur, and the human face of the children injured and killed by gun violence.

Stories of gun violence & children shot by guns

The problem with gun violence has always been this: humans are prone to making dumb decisions. When you put a gun in their hand, these dumb decisions become deadly, turning many otherwise everyday scenarios into fatal confrontations with consequences that can’t be taken back. It doesn’t matter whether the gun is in the hands of a ‘criminal’ or an otherwise ‘law-abiding citizen,’ it really is the gun that causes unnecessary death and destruction, because human imperfection + gun will always = tragedy. Don’t believe me? Take a gander at some of the following pages:

Additional resources on Gun Safety:


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