People With Guns

The NRA and other gun advocates like to say, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people."
They are partially right. More accurately people with guns kill people.

I read an article this morning about an accidental shooting in Virginia.

Va. 3-sport star shot dead after drunkenly sneaking into neighbor’s house thinking it was his own

A teenager was dropped off at a home by his friends after a night of partying. He was drunk and impaired. He entered the wrong house. The owner of the home mistook the boy for an intruder and after a warning, shot the boy killing him. A tragic accident, right?

Consider these three questions. What if the home owner had called and waited for the police? What of the homeowner had been better trained in the use of his weapon? What if the home owner did not have a gun? Instead of a tragic and senseless death, the boy would still be alive.

I pulled this off The Children's Defense Fund website.

Between 2000 and 2010, a total of 332,014 people of all ages died from guns, more than the population of St. Louis, MO (318,069), Pittsburgh, PA (307,484), Cincinnati, OH (296,223), Newark, NJ (277,540), Orlando, FL (243,195), or Richmond, VA (205,533).

 31,328 people of all ages died from guns in 2010.
 1 person died every 17 minutes 
 85 people died every day
 602 people died every week
Join us to #ProtectChildrenNotGuns, sign our petition to the President and members of
Congress bit.ly/R9mNas

In a section on the childrendefense.org website titled The Truth About Guns...

1. A gun in the home increases the risk of homicide, suicide, and accidental death.
2. Many children live in homes with loaded and unlocked guns. 
3. Guns make violence more deadly.
4. Virtually anyone can buy a gun without a background check.
5. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is forbidden from regulating the sale and manufacture of guns.
6. Common sense gun safety laws help reduce gun violence while protecting the legal use of guns.
7. Loopholes in prior gun safety laws prevented them from being as effective as necessary.
8. Common sense gun safety regulations protect lawful ownership and use of guns.
9. The majority of Americans, including gun owners and NRA members, support common sense gun safety regulation.
10. Armed school guards and teachers will not necessarily make children safer but will jeopardize the futures of some children. 

To find the sources for this information, please go to the Children's Defense Fund site.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/
Click on Programs and Campaigns. The go to Protect Children, not Guns.