USA: Guns are the Leading Cause of Child Mortality - Former Student Returns to Her Former School and Kills 3 Nine-year olds, and 3 Adults : Tom McDermott / Sree Gururaja

On Monday, a 28 year old woman who had attended a school run by the Presbyterian Church returned to the school.  She shot her way through a locked door of the school and then shot and killed three children, aged 9, and 3 adult staff, including the headmistress of the school, before she herself was killed by police responding to emergency calls. The shooter was heavily armed with 7 guns which she had legally purchased.  She was under treatment at the time for emotional issues and depression. 

The statistics are shocking, and yet it seems that no matter how shocking the numbers may be, they remain insufficient to overcome the love many Americans feel for their guns and recent interpretations by US courts that the right to own guns is embedded in the US Constitution.  

According to the Washington Post there have been 376 school shootings in the US since 1999 when the infamous Columbine School shooting took place.  According to NPR in 2023 alone 74 people have been killed or injured in shooting incidents in US schools.

Source: Washington Post - Each dot represents 20 children exposed to gun violence.

School shootings represent only a small, though deeply worrying portion, of an epidemic of gun violence in the US in recent years.   In 2020 alone there were 45,222 gun related deaths (including suicides) in the US.

This was the 130th incident "mass killing" in the US in 2023 alone.  Last year there were 649 such incidents.   

According to a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, guns are now the leading cause of mortality for children and adolescents in the US.

Gun control is one of the many issues which divide Americans.  Liberals and Democrats call for stricter gun laws.  The attitude of most conservatives and Republicans can perhaps be best summed up in the common refrain, "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun." 

Most attempts by states to regulate gun sales and the carrying of concealed weapons have been overturned by courts, including the US Supreme Court.  

But gun control is only one of the issues involved in this terrible incident.  Another is a crisis of mental health.  The crisis affects all, but is especially acute in America's adolescents.  

A newspaper near Nashville where the most recent school shooting occurred sums up reactions - mothers cling to their children, fathers cling to their guns.  This over simplifies the situation, since in fact many mothers support rights to gun ownership, and many fathers push for stricter controls.  The divide is much deeper.  

I keep wondering where is the voice of UNICEF, or more specifically, UNICEF USA on the leading cause of child mortality in our country?

My fellow editor, Sree Gururaja, has responded with a lovely prayer - one all of us must share. Thank you, Sree

These thoughts I wish to share with you!

In solidarity

I share the grief, sorrow and pain
In solidarity with devastated and bereaved parents in Nashville
And pray that they be brave and keep faith
That someday we’ll see a different world.

What is it about guns? I do not understand
That imbues hate, violence and temporal power
Crushing innocent lives before they flower
Destroying hopes for a peaceful world.

Dear fellow human beings,
Let’s work for peace and loving care
For children’s lives
are precious everywhere.
Whatever their ethnicity or religion
Let’s promise to nurture and cherish
Keep them safe, protected and secure
Give them freedom, happiness and much more.

Before I end, I must confess
I fear for all those near and dear
Living in the land of USA.
With trust and love in my heart
I ask that God’s grace protect them always.

Sree