I admit that I’d heard on the news that a two-year-old child killed himself with a gun from his mom’s purse in Indiana this week. I also admit that I’d heard a 13-year-old girl was accidentally shot in Indiana this week as well. The problem is that I hear about this kind of stuff so often, I guess I got kind of inured to it and didn’t really react.
Then Austin tweeted this passage from Richard Perez-Pena in the NYT, covering the story of a mother who was killed in Wisconsin on Tuesday by her two-year-old, with a gun:
In the seven days that ended Tuesday, in addition to the death of Ms. Price, a 3-year-old in Georgia, a 3-year-old in Louisiana, a 2-year-old in Missouri and a 2-year-old in Indiana fatally shot themselves; a 4-year-old in Texas shot and wounded a family member; a 16-year-old in California killed a 14-year-old friend in a shooting that officials called accidental; a 15-year-old in Texas accidentally shot and wounded a 16-year-old friend; and a 13-year-old in Indiana accidentally shot and wounded herself.
This was in a week. A week.
In 2009, about 7400 kids were hospitalized with gun injuries. Homicide is the number three killer of kids age 1-4 years. Accidents are the number one. Guns are a health risk for kids, and in some states, we aren’t allowed to talk about it by law.
So can we talk about it now? If not, when?
P.S. Kudos to Perez-Pena. Sometimes it takes some great writing to get me off my ass.
