This past Saturday, thousands of supporters and leaders of gun control from all over the country met in Washington, D.C. for the March on Washington for Gun Control, to demand stricter gun laws. Some of the speakers at the march included political leaders like Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Mr. Duncan and Rep. Van Hollen speak in the video below about the "unacceptable" death toll from gun violence.
In many parts of our country, kids are scared to simply leave their house, walk to the bus stop, or go to the mall because they might not come back. Our generation is scared. Our generation is dying. One boy in Chicago drew a picture of himself as a fireman with the caption, "If I grow up, I want to be a fireman." IF, not when. He gave the picture to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, then CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
This boy in Chicago had reason for wondering IF he would grow up.
In its 2012 report, the Children's Defense Fund revealed some shocking statistics:
- 8 children die from gun violence every day
- The number of preschoolers killed by guns in 2008 (88) and in 2009 (85) was nearly double the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2008 (41) and 2009 (48).
- The most recent analysis of data from 23 industrialized nations shows that 87 percent of the children under age 15 killed by guns in these nations lived in the United States. The gun homicide rate in the United States for teens and young adults ages 15 to 24 was 42.7 times higher than the combined rate for the other nations.
- Gun homicide continued as the leading cause of death among Black teens 15 to 19. White teens the same age were more likely to die from motor vehicle accidents, followed by gun homicide in 2008 and gun suicide in 2009.
Many people have been fighting to put an end to this violence. But where has the public outcry been? Where are the youth, who were so politically active in November? Why do we, as Americans, simply accept these atrocious numbers as tragic but unavoidable and move on? Our generation has proven itself to play an important role in politics, I hope we start playing a larger role in fighting for our lives.
