Pediatric Gun Deaths Are A Massive Problem in the U.S.

School shooting feel random in their location. Elementary, high school and college students are targets by killers. Some of the children killed are Hispanic, white, Black, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, and cis gender.

Over the course of the year, there have been more than weekly school shootings on average. The "unthinkable" of the deaths of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, goes largely unrecognized until it happens. These killings aren't completely out of the ordinary. We have been to many other schools, including Sandy Hook, and we know what happened there.

Researchers and emergency medicine physicians are studying firearm injuries. We believe that it is our collective responsibility to address the issues of gun availability, gun safety, gun regulations and gun violence prevention research after many years of investigation. With thousands of children killed each year in the U.S. by firearms, we have to reckon with the question of what is most important: is it the narrow focus on individuals' rights or the broader vision of societal responsibility?

Is there a problem with gun deaths in the United States? The answer is definitely yes. Guns kill more children and adolescents in the United States than any other method. More children are killed by guns than any other disease. This is a problem that is unique to the United States. School deaths represent a small fraction of gun deaths. The majority of firearm injuries and deaths occur in homes. Over the last decade, the number of children and young adults who died by guns has increased.

Health disparity is related to gun deaths. Black teenage boys have died by guns at a higher rate than white teenage boys over the past 10 years, though their names rarely appear in the national consciousness.

Most states don't require gun registration or track gun sales, so we don't know how many guns there are in the U.S. There were 18.9 million guns sold in the United States last year. There are over 5 million people who used to live in homes without guns. Twenty years ago, most gun owners used guns for hunting. Almost all of them own their guns for self- protection. Most of those owners say having a gun at home makes them feel safer, and about 40% keep one loaded and easy to access at all times. Approximately 30 million kids had at least one gun in the home in the year 2021. 73 percent of these guns were left unlocked and/or loaded in homes with children. If you keep a gun in your home, you should keep it unloaded and locked away.

There are no safety requirements for guns in the US. Guns are not subject to federal safety standards. There were 923 deaths and 1,603 injuries caused by unintentional child shootings between 2015 and 2011. While pill bottle makers, hair dryer producers and motor vehicle companies work to improve their products' safety, the U.S. government does not.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was passed in 2006 and shields firearm manufacturers from liability for injuries or deaths from guns. Despite the development of safer gun technology over the last decade in the form of personalized "smart" guns, gunmakers have little incentive to improve gun safety technology. Children, suicidal individuals, and unauthorized people would not be able to find a gun and shoot it. Many lives would be saved each year.

States with stronger gun laws are more likely to have fewer deaths. The problem of U.S. gun violence will not be addressed by a single law or strategy. We need a strategy that covers all states.

One approach would treat owning guns like owning a car. New York, Connecticut and California have licensing requirements. Other states don't allow gun registries. Moderate or strong regulation of gun ownership is supported by nearly two thirds of Americans. Universal background checks or raising the legal age to buy a long-gun from 18 to 21 are some of the federal firearm legislation that has been proposed in the past. It is the most effective way to decrease firearm deaths. We are left with thought and prayers.

Laws need to be put in place to minimize access to firearms for individuals at risk of harming themselves or others. 81 percent of Americans support universal background checks and extreme risk protection order laws that allow a judge to prevent at-risk individuals from purchasing or possession of a firearm. There are red flag laws in 19 states. Republican-led states often pass these laws. We need to raise awareness of the laws in the states that have them and to get more states to pass them.

Children accessing their parents' guns is a concern for us. Currently, 34 states and Washington, D.C. have strong child access prevention laws that hold adult gun owners responsible if a child can or does access a firearm. We and others are concerned about criminalizing grieving families and non-discriminatory applications of these laws. Gun owners could be encouraged to store their firearms in a safer way.

There is money. There are gaps in knowledge about gun violence because of a lack of research funding. There was no Congressional funding for firearm research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after Congress passed the Dickey Amendment in 1996 and no funding for the National Institutes of Health after the amendment was extended to that agency in 2011. The number of people affected by gun violence is much higher than this one. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has a budget of over $4 billion to support research related to conditions such as heart disease and cancer.

We need to remember these names while considering these approaches. Parents had hopes and dreams for their children and they are sons and daughters.

It's called NevaehBravo.

Jacklyn Cazares is named after her.

Elrod is named Makenna Lee.

Jose Flores, Jr. is the son of Jose Flores.

The name of the person is Eliana "Ellie"Garcia.

Is there a person named Is there a person named Is there a person named Is there a person named Is there a person named Is there a person named Is there a person named Is there a person named Is there a person named Is there a

UziyahGarcia is a person.

A woman named Amerie Jo Garza.

There is a person named Xenia Lopez.

There is a person named Jayce Luevanos.

Mata is named Marie.

Maranda's name is Maranda.

Eva Mireles is a person.

The person is Alithia Ramirez.

The person is Annabell Rodriguez.

Maite Rodriguez.

Alexandria "Lexi" Aniyah.

There are two people, one of which is a woman.

The jailah is Nicole Silguero.

Eliahana Cruz is the daughter of Eliahana Cruz.

Rojelio.

We should not have to list the names of the children who were killed in school. History and a lack of action from our elected officials predict we will. When there are actions we can take, we need to demand more. We need to do better for our kids and society. It is necessary that we must.