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Guns killing children: An American epidemic
Kids are accidentally shooting kids — siblings, friends and themselves — in a tragic trend that isn’t showing any signs of improving. At least 40 children ages 12 and under have died in accidental shootings since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, a heartbreaking statistic on premeditated crimes versus inadvertent deaths. . . .
You don’t need a mass shooting if you want to see kids injured by guns,” said Angela Sauaia, a trauma researcher at the University of Colorado. “A good proportion of these injuries are caused by the children themselves. Injuries caused by firearms are much more likely to be self-inflicted than any other injuries.”
Experts on both sides of the gun debate say these deaths are completely avoidable. But statistics show they occur time and time again, with the youth gun death rate staying steady for the past 15 years. . . .
• On Christmas 2012, two children accidentally killed themselves with guns. Sincere Tymere Smith, 2, found his father’s weapon in their Conway, S.C., home and pulled the trigger, killing himself. His father was criminally charged. The same day in Memphis, Tenn., 10-year-old Alfreddie Gipson was fatally shot in the stomach after he and his 12-year-old brother found a gun under a mattress. A third brother, 15, had illegally purchased the weapon after being bullied at school.
• In February, another Memphis boy, 4-year-old Joshua Johnson, shot himself and died while playing with a handgun he found in a shoebox. His mother was sleeping nearby. She and her boyfriend were charged with reckless homicide and reckless endangerment, respectively. “This tragedy should be a wake-up call to all gun owners,” Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said at a press conference. “It is your responsibility to make sure children can’t reach or use your guns.”
More cases and photos at.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/guns-120-kids-newtown-article-1.1391208#ixzz2YQ3O7Kv6
You don’t need a mass shooting if you want to see kids injured by guns,” said Angela Sauaia, a trauma researcher at the University of Colorado. “A good proportion of these injuries are caused by the children themselves. Injuries caused by firearms are much more likely to be self-inflicted than any other injuries.”
Experts on both sides of the gun debate say these deaths are completely avoidable. But statistics show they occur time and time again, with the youth gun death rate staying steady for the past 15 years. . . .
• On Christmas 2012, two children accidentally killed themselves with guns. Sincere Tymere Smith, 2, found his father’s weapon in their Conway, S.C., home and pulled the trigger, killing himself. His father was criminally charged. The same day in Memphis, Tenn., 10-year-old Alfreddie Gipson was fatally shot in the stomach after he and his 12-year-old brother found a gun under a mattress. A third brother, 15, had illegally purchased the weapon after being bullied at school.
• In February, another Memphis boy, 4-year-old Joshua Johnson, shot himself and died while playing with a handgun he found in a shoebox. His mother was sleeping nearby. She and her boyfriend were charged with reckless homicide and reckless endangerment, respectively. “This tragedy should be a wake-up call to all gun owners,” Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich said at a press conference. “It is your responsibility to make sure children can’t reach or use your guns.”
More cases and photos at.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/guns-120-kids-newtown-article-1.1391208#ixzz2YQ3O7Kv6
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