Guns and Kids

In 2005 the Carnegie Corporation and the Knight Foundation launched News21, a program for journalism students. Their work has been run by most of the big media players - NY Times, NPR, Washington Post, etc. They are now working on gun control and have published a report on the subject. 

Raw Story has published News21 work on the number of children (age 19 and younger) killed by guns.  Here are some of the frightening excerpts: 

• For every U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan during 11 years of war, at least 13 children were shot and killed in America. 
• More than 450 kids didn’t make it to kindergarten. 
• Another 2,700 or more were killed by a firearm before they could sit behind the wheel of a car. 
• Every day, on average, seven children were shot dead. 
• At least 28,000 children and teens 19-years-old and younger were killed with guns. 
• Teenagers between the ages of 15 and 19 made up over two-thirds of all youth gun deaths in America. 
• Most of those killed by firearms, 62 percent, were murdered and the majority of victims were black children and teens. 
• Suicides resulted in 25 percent of the firearm deaths of young people: The majority of them were white. 
• More than 1,100 children and teens were killed by a gun that accidentally discharged. 
• Accidents involving guns are the third-largest cause of firearm deaths for youths, after murder and suicide. 
• More than 1,100 kids have been killed by a gun that accidentally discharged. Teens between 15 and 19 were the most likely to be killed by the unintentional pull of a trigger,
• More than 19,000 high school-aged students never got to walk across the stage and get a diploma.