It happens nearly 200 times each year, and only in the United States. It’s not something to be proud of; in fact it’s just the opposite; it’s one of our national shames. When children gain possession of a weapon of mass destruction, and shoot themselves, another child, or an adult with a loaded gun, there are many to blame. The NRA gun lobby encourages gun violence, and stupidity, with the intent of increasing gun sales for their benefactors, but they are not solely the focus of anger and disgust.
Republicans in congress refuse to admit that our nation needs stricter gun laws to protect the innocent; those of us who refuse to live in fear and run to the local gun store every time the NRA creates hysteria.
When the ignorant succumb to these fear tactics, they generally purchase weapons they are incapable of using correctly, and gun safety is an afterthought.
The Thanksgiving holiday ended in tragedy for one Philadelphia family. As the mother of a four-year-old was preparing the Thanksgiving feast, a gunshot disturbed the festivities. They all rushed to the sound and discovered that the child had shot his two-year-old cousin with a .40 caliber pistol. The child remains in critical condition.
The parents of the four-year-old boy, Rachel Santiago, 34, and Omar Laboy-Vega, also 34, were arrested and charged with the endangerment of a child. The father was additionally charged with illegal possession of a gun; two were found in the home. The couple has two other children.
Until the mid-1970’s the NRA was actually involved in gun safety. The truth is that the organization wrote most of the gun laws. They had several ideas to prevent the unnecessary discharge of a weapon and harm the innocent; especially children.
The NRA suggested that if any American made the decision to keep guns in their home, they should take some simple precautions to keep them away from small children. The guns should never be loaded while in a private residence. The way to insure that they could not possibly cause harm to another was to keep the weapon and the ammunition in separate, locked locations. The NRA now believes in keeping the guns loaded at all times; and now we have at least 200 injuries or deaths each year by the hand of a child.
The exact number is unknown because law enforcement does not keep statistics related to these tragedies. The information comes from local newspaper reports.
The NRA continued its policies of creating fear by lying to the American people during the 2016 election season. It claimed that Hillary Clinton sought to take away the lethal toys of our nation’s gun nuts. That was a huge falsehood. She advocated small changes to protect the majority, but was a strong supporter of the second amendment. She was right; Trump was wrong.
There is no excuse for anything like what happened in Philadelphia to occur again. Common sense must return to our nation. The penalties for adults who are negligent and make it possible for children to gain access to lethal weapons must become far more severe. In far too many instances, the adults receive no punishment, or a slap on the wrists. When these totally preventable tragedies occur, all minor children should be removed from their parent’s custody.
America needs intelligent men and women controlling our nation’s future, not those now taking up space in Washington.
Op-Ed
By James Turnage
Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey
Follow me on twitter; @jamesturnagenov
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