Children's Defense Fund releases 2013 "Protect Children Not Guns" report

Every year, the Children's Defense Fund puts together an extensive report called, "Protect Children Not Guns". The 2013 report is now out. There is a lot of good information in this report about the number of children and teens who are affected by gun deaths and injuries every year. This is a thorough report with much to study. Here are a few of the main points of the report:

Guns killed more preschoolers in one year than they did law enforcement officers in the line of duty. Ask yourself if this is really what we as Americans mean by putting our children first?

American companies manufacture enough bullets each year to fire 31 rounds into every one of our citizens. How many more mass-murders will it take to get Congress to pass sensible gun regulation?

America’s military and law enforcement agencies have four million guns. Our citizens have 310 million. Has this made our children safer?

The number of children and teens killed by guns in 2010 was nearly five times the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action that year in Iraq and Afghanistan. Shouldn’t our legislators be as concerned about the wars at home as they are about the wars overseas?

The number of children and teens killed by guns in one year would fill 134 classrooms of 20 students each. Too many children and teens are still being killed and injured by gun violence. Isn’t it time to demand more common sense ways to protect them?

— From the “We Can Do Better” Campaign, created for CDF by Fallon Worldwide

We post stories on this blog about real incidents of shootings of and by children. There are so many that we can't keep up with them. This report verifies the frequency with which children die and are injured by guns. We hope you will take the time to read it.