The Cost Kids Pay for Lax Gun Laws

[Content Note: Guns; injury; death; self-harm.]

Mary Brophy Marcus at CBS News: Study Reveals "Staggering" Toll of Guns on U.S. Kids. (Emphasis mine.)

The tragic headlines are all too common: A toddler got his hands on his mother's gun and fatally shot his 2-year-old brother in Colorado earlier this month. Two girls caught in the crossfire were wounded in a shooting during a picnic at a Chicago elementary school on Friday. And out of the glare of the headlines, more teens took their own lives.

Now a new report gives the most complete picture yet of the grim toll gunfire takes on American children every year.

Overall, nearly 1,300 children in the U.S. die in shootings each year and another 5,790 survive gunshot wounds — from handguns, rifles, and shotguns — according to the study published today in the journal Pediatrics.

The tally makes gunshot wounds the third leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 17 years.

...Dr. Ruth Abaya, assistant professor of pediatrics in the division of Emergency Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, told CBS News, "The findings were staggering."

But, she added, "Unfortunately, not surprising. Their numbers verified a lot of observations we've seen in regards to gun violence, gun death, and unintentional injury to children over the years. It was very telling."

The third leading cause of death for children. That seems an awfully high price to pay to keep guns as widely available and unregulated as possible for adults.

But what do I know. I'm not a parent. I have lots of weird ideas about raising kids, like thinking children are entitled to food and healthcare.