17 Dec 2012

Safer America For Our Children!

by | posted in: Reflections | 1

Safer America For Our Children!

I have three kids in elementary school and I never want to wander if I’m going to see them again after dropping them off in the morning.

Like any parent out there, I want my kids to be safe, both in and outside of our home.

The reality is that our children aren’t as safe as we’d like to believe. Greed and politics have consequences and the facts speak for themselves…

  • Access to healthcare including mental healthcare is limited in this country (privilege) while almost anyone has easy access to weapons (right), including semi- and automatic guns (just check your local Walmart).
  • 40% of all gun sales in the USA don’t require a background check.
  • From 2008 to 2009, the number of preschool-aged children killed by guns was nearly double the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty (source).
  • Children ages 5 to 14 in America are 13 times as likely to be murdered with guns as children in other industrialized countries (source).
  • In the mid 90s, after massacres, the UK and Australia passed strict gun control laws. Nether has had a mass school shooting since.
  • People with a gun are 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not possessing a gun (source).
  • Among the world’s 23 wealthiest countries, 80% of all gun deaths are American and 87% of all kids killed by guns are American.
  • Last year handguns killed 48 people in Japan, 8 in Great Britain, 34 in Switzerland, 52 in Canada, 58 in Israel, 21 in Sweden, 42 in West Germany and 10, 728 in the United States!
  • Gun violence kills 10 times more Americans each year than died on September 11, 2001 (source).
  • From 1981-2002, there have been 28 cases of random school shootings in American high schools & middle schools (source).
  • Of the 61 mass shootings since 1980, NOT ONE SINGLE CASE was stopped by a civilian using a gun (source).
  • States with stricter gun control laws have fewer deaths from gun-related violence (source).

This is unacceptable. We are better than this!

We need a better and stronger America and it start with each and everyone of us taking action, instead of just offering condolences to those affected by gun violence!

So what can you do now to change this cycle of violence?