America 's Model Of Gun Laws

On April 26 in, 3-year-old Holston Cole died of a self-inflicted wound after finding a gun in his father’s bag in their home in Georgia. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Atlanta Black Star), Holton’s parents David and Haley Cole were informed by the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office last week that they will not be charged for the toddler’s death.

Studies show some parents underestimate their children’s experience handling firearms. That’s the biggest mistake a parent can make, especially in this generations time and day. There are so many ways for a young child to learn about guns; how to use them, where to get them, how much they cost, pretty much anything. Never underestimate what your child knows about anything. They’ll surprise you. They may not know about it because they wanted to know.

I recently read an article when a kid in elementary recently took a gun because he was getting article where this boy got shot at very

Every year more than 20,000 children, as well as a youth under the age of 20 years, face deaths and in other case injured by firearms in the US. The fact that guns are lethal, as well as the fact that there is ease of access to the guns by the young people, is the main explanation why firearms are the second cause of deaths among young people between 10 and 19 years. Most of these deaths are homicides while suicides account for approximately one-third of the deaths by gun among the young people, and unintentional shootings account for approximately 7% of the deaths. Among the homicides that have perpetrated by the young people in their school include the 2012-gun attack at Sandy Elementary where 28 people at the school killed. In the year 1927 in the bath school, there were 45 murders whereby the majority of the victims were children. At Virginia Tech, a gunman killed 33 victims in the year 2007 (Swanson, et al. 361-376).

The article from the Washington Post was about a toddler boy who accidentally shot his sister, Kimi, in their great-grandparent’s house. The great-grandfather left out the gun, the grandmother did not see the gun, and the mother’s son pulled the trigger to the gun that killed his sister (McCoy 1). There were many people around and many precautionary steps that were breezed by in order for the shooting to happen. In our nation, “nearly 4 percent of shootings are unintentional and, in a given week, two children die from accidental shootings, according to gun violence research” (McCoy 1) Accidents such as Kimi’s death do happen, but there are safety steps that can be taken to prevent shootings like what happened.

It happened in San Bernardino, California. This man went to the school where his wife worked and shot her in the middle of her class. The shot killed her and one of her students, while injuring another. After the man shot himself to death in the classroom. The story was not local, but it was interesting to read about and it just happened recently.

January 6, 2013. Loganville, Georgia. A 37 year old mother of twin 9 year olds was home when she noticed a suspicious man outside her home. He began ringing the doorbell incessantly and then tried gaining access to her home. She called her husband and he instructed her to take the kids, hide and call 911. In a panic she grabbed her kids and hid in a crawl space. As the intruder made his way in with a crow bar, the mother hid as quietly as she could. The intruder found them in the crawl space. His eyes met hers along with her .38 revolver. She fired all six rounds and then fled to safety with her children. You can only imagine if she did not have a firearm to protect her and her family how different the outcome might have been. This is why guns increase our safety and protect law abiding citizens.

Another shooting incident that took place in Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia on April 16, 2007, where a 23 years old South Korean immigrant student ‘Seung-Hui Cho’ killed 32 students and injured 17 and 6 others were injured who jumped out of the windows to save themselves. Seung-Hui Cho purchased and used two different guns for the shooting. He had easily passed through all the checks and purchased both guns without any delays (NY Times). This incident raised very serious

Aside of domestic homicide another leading cause of death within the household is suicide. Christopher Ingraham, one of the leading researchers at the Pew Research Center, found “Availability of guns in an house leads to an increase in suicide.” A primary “self harm” contributor for all deaths by suicide is a personal firearm, particularly a handgun (Ingram, 2014).

A study conducted with 201 parents and an equal number of their children found that 33 percent of the children knew the location of the guns in the house, while 22 percent even handled the weapons, despite their parent's contrary (Boodman). This study showed that even though parents think their children do not know the locations of the firearms stored in the house, it is not the case. Miller says, "Age was not a factor in whether children had handled weapons." Five-year-olds are just as likely to do what 14-year-olds do. Even "teaching kids to be safe around guns doesn't work," declared Jon Vernick, "This is probably the first time I've heard that education is a bad thing and not effective." (qtd. in Boodman) The issue of gun accessibility in homes widened on May 8, 2006, when a delusional 18-year-old, Matthew Kennedy, shot two Fairfax police officers to death. He was armed with seven guns, including an AK-47 style assault rifle. Authorities said to have found 15 other guns propped up against walls, and two others were loaded. The risks of guns being in the hands of youths are being simply underestimated (Boodman). Two other incidents include a 10-year-old who unintentionally shot himself dead while attempting to find his soccer ball - and a 13-year-old who shot himself with a semi-automatic pistol. Miller states that parents should make their

According to 2014 report by MSNBC, there are over 7,000 children a year hospitalized or fatally wounded by guns each year. While many of these deaths or injuries are caused by violent acts, many are simply caused by accidents in the homes that could have been prevented. If you are going to have a gun in your home for protection, hunting, or sport, it is imperative that you teach your children about gun safety. While there is a lot of controversy about guns and children living in the same home, the fact is that gun safety training can make all the difference in the world and may just be what keeps your child safe.

In an LA times article, a little boy age of 10 willingly admitted to shooting his own father in his sleep. He claims his father beat his mother and him, along with death threats to burn them alive.

One thousand eight hundred ninety six children were killed by unintentional gun injuries and an additional 6,287 children committed suicide with a firearm between 1994 and 1998 in the United States. According to CDC National Inquiry Mortality Statistics, a total of 18, 896 children died due to unintentional gun injuries during these years.

During the 1990s and early 2000s, a number of states passed child access prevention laws in an attempt to reduce gun-related accidents, suicides, and crime among children. The national rate of firearm-related deaths among children under the age of 17 was very high in the early 1900s, peaking at a rate of 4.97 per 100,000 youths in 1993, with over 3000 deaths that year. These numbers have fallen steadily over time, with fatalities falling to 1.87 per 100,000 youths in 2009, or about 1400 deaths nationwide. Non-fatal gun injuries, however, are much more common, with an estimated 5,000 gun-related injuries among children in 2009. This number fell from a high of over 17,000 in 1993.

Wow, that’s a scary situation involving the pistol. I firmly remember a view incidents myself that will forever be planted in my mind. I’ll share one story. I used to go outside and play baseball with my friends out in the street, but with a tennis ball. As stupid kids, we decided to hit a few rocks instead of tennis balls. I stupidly hit the rock and smashed one of the neighbor’s windows. The neighbor was furious about it and started demanding my mother to pay for it. I remember the neighbor yelling at my mother, while my mother was just taking it. My mother wasn’t confrontational. My father pulled up in a car while this was going on. He ran out and threatened the neighbor’s life and gave my mother the “evil” eye which wasn’t a good sign. I saw my mother and father barge in the house and slam the front door.