Gunshot wounds--leading cause of death for American children

[wellwisher]

The start of a new school year begins with the mass shooting at a Georgia high school. The shooter was just 14 years old. This is intolerable. Guns have become the leading cause of death for American children.

As guns rise to leading cause of death among US children, research funding to help prevent and protect victims lags​

I thought fentanyl was number one. There were 75,000 death by fentanyl and that is only one of the 4-5 categories of drugs. There were about 2500 children and teen death by guns; murder and suicide.

That article was from CNN so I did not expect it to be real journalism. But I read the article, and did not see any hard numbers. It must be an opinion piece soft on hard data.

Most of the children and teen deaths by guns are gang related. Also as illegal immigration as increased both drug and gun death have increased. Ironically, Democrat run cities, with the strictest gun laws, have the most gun deaths. Prohibitions have the historical tendency to increase the black market and organized crime, like gangs. If we add to that soft on gang crime policies, like no bail, the number will also go up.

The DNC can then blame their incompetence on guns. DNC is pro-drugs and gangs so they will get no credit.

Below is an interesting graph by the BBC, which shows mass shooting up during Biden-Harris versus Trump. There are more mass shooting when the gun haters are in power. That makes no sense, other than economic hardship and too much hateful fake news, so people snap.

Here another that looks at all forms of childhood death

Of course we need to add deaths from abortions, which was about a million last year.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Sorry, I did read it and I do not consider 18 and 19 year olds to be "children."

I hate it when people lie and call young adults 'children'.

 

[Kathryn]

I hate it when people lie and call young adults 'children'.

Me too. They are not "children" in my opinion, when they can enlist and fight and die for their country.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Me too. They are not "children" in my opinion, when they can enlist and fight and die for their country.

Yep they can't smoke a cigarette if they want to until they're 21, but at least in the military you're allowed to smoke and drink at 18 at least when I was in about 38 years ago.

I consider all of them men and women as well.

 

[Kathryn]

Yep they can't smoke a cigarette if they want to until they're 21, but at least in the military you're allowed to smoke and drink at 18 at least when I was in about 38 years ago.

I consider all of them men and women as well.

All I know is that my son was not 21 but he could drink in a VFW Hall. He enlisted in the military at age 18. He was the youngest in his battalion.

 

[Copernicus]

Sure let's move forward. Gun violence is a leading cause of death among kids in the US, and it's terrible. It's not THE leading cause of death but it's A leading cause of death among children in the US, which is bad enough.

Sounds like were still just running in place, but we can now try for some forward momentum.

 

[Kathryn]

we can now try for some forward momentum.

Sure, why not?

 

[Copernicus]

Me too. They are not "children" in my opinion, when they can enlist and fight and die for their country.

Oops! Wrong direction. Wait. We're now back to arguing over how to define children again? Oh, well. I tried.

 

[Kathryn]

Oops! Wrong direction. Wait. We're now back to arguing over how to define children again? Oh, well. I tried.

Go on wid cho bad seff. And I wasn't arguing with anyone.

 

[Copernicus]

I thought fentanyl was number one. There were 75,000 death by fentanyl and that is only one of the 4-5 categories of drugs. There were about 2500 children and teen death by guns; murder and suicide.

That article was from CNN so I did not expect it to be real journalism. But I read the article, and did not see any hard numbers. It must be an opinion piece soft on hard data.

Most of the children and teen deaths by guns are gang related. Also as illegal immigration as increased both drug and gun death have increased. Ironically, Democrat run cities, with the strictest gun laws, have the most gun deaths. Prohibitions have the historical tendency to increase the black market and organized crime, like gangs. If we add to that soft on gang crime policies, like no bail, the number will also go up.

The DNC can then blame their incompetence on guns. DNC is pro-drugs and gangs so they will get no credit.

Below is an interesting graph by the BBC, which shows mass shooting up during Biden-Harris versus Trump. There are more mass shooting when the gun haters are in power. That makes no sense, other than economic hardship and too much hateful fake news, so people snap.

Here another that looks at all forms of childhood death

Of course we need to add deaths from abortions, which was about a million last year.

You do not provide any link to a BBC source, which would have been helpful. However, you are now defining "children" to include pregnancies and the first year of life, which were explicitly excluded from the study you are replying to. Also, you seem to feel that gang-related deaths, which you gratuitously claim to comprise the majority of gunshot-related child deaths, should somehow mitigate the gravity of the statistics.

A lot of obfuscation and partisan BS there, but thanks for the comment.

 

[Pogo]

Where I live it's because the cops are more interested in harassing the homeless and pulling people over for using their phone while stopped at a red light than go after the hotroding and racing and putting up sobriety in check points where they're usefull (this last weekend was one point at thebfar end of town checkinf people as they're coming into town for thr most part. It got about a 12 citations for people driving without their license on hand and some while driving while suspended).

Weird, yes they can cite you for not having your licence on you, but if that is it it is almost guaranteed to be harassment. Reminds me of the time I got stopped in Kentucky for having NY plates and long hair.

 

[Pogo]

Sounds like were still just running in place, but we can now try for some forward momentum.

We can fix that easy , lets just get more young drivers and their friends to wear seatbelts and gun deaths can get back on top again.

 

[Alien826]

I've pretty much given up on hoping that this will change. My standard question to someone who is proposing more gun regulation is "Are you in favor of amending/ deleting / changing the interpretation of/ the 2nd amendment?" The answer is so universally "no" that I stop there. All these regulations are just picking round the edge of the problem and nothing serious can be done until the (almost) universal availability of guns is addressed.

Until then it has to be "thoughts and prayers" I guess.

Sorry to be so negative, my reaction to these tragic deaths matches those of most of you, but I fear they are an inevitable result of the gun culture in the USA. Until that changes we are stuck with the results.

(I'm not suggesting we give up on the regulations btw, they may do some good).

Another thought, maybe we should include child gun related deaths in Mexico? Most of the guns used by the drug cartels come from the USA I believe.

 

[Copernicus]

It turns out that the young shooter in the latest incident was investigated for making threats a year ago.

Georgia high school shooting suspect was investigated in 2023 for online threats, authorities say

Apparently, the father admitted to owning "hunting rifles" but claimed that his son did not have unsupervised access to them. We'll have to wait to get details on where that AR-15 platform weapon came from, but I'm suspecting it was what the father considered a hunting rifle. People actually do use these weapons to hunt with.

My view is that all guns should be prohibited in the homes of parents whose children are on record as threatening to commit mass murder. Public safety should trump the idea that private gun ownership in these homes is needed for militia duty.

 

[We Never Know]

Read it again.

Thr idea 18 amd 19 year olds aren't kids and 17 amd 16 year olds are is arbritrary as the humans aren't fully mature then.

They are kids when it suits the story.
In court of law 18 and 19 year old are considered adults.

 

[We Never Know]

A 19 year old can fight for his or her country.

Yep. They can fight a war but not legally drink in most states.

 

[Kathryn]

Technically not in Texas, which is where my son was from, but he was able to drink in various VFW locations, under age 21. I never saw anyone ask for his ID anywhere now that I think of it. @We Never Know

 

[We Never Know]

Technically not in Texas, which is where my son was from, but he was able to drink in various VFW locations, under age 21. I never saw anyone ask for his ID anywhere now that I think of it. @We Never Know

Texas law is 21 years if age to legally drink.

I think most all states, if not all, 21 its the legal age, even for service members.

 

[Kathryn]

Texas law is 21 years if age to legally drink.

I think most all states, if not all, 21 its the legal age, even for service members.

True but what I am saying is that though that's the law, it wasn't enforced in Texas when my son was in uniform.

 

[LadyJane]

The start of a new school year begins with the mass shooting at a Georgia high school. The shooter was just 14 years old. This is intolerable. Guns have become the leading cause of death for American children.

As guns rise to leading cause of death among US children, research funding to help prevent and protect victims lags​

The reaction time to defend gun rights is astoundingly quick. If only the same enthusiasm was spent considering the trauma for students, teachers, parents, first responders and all of those triggered from the school shootings they experienced in one of the many school shootings over the years. That stress lasts a lifetime.