Homicides by gun have doubled since 2014, as reported by the CDC. No matter what legislation liberals have proposed to lower this rate, their children are no safer, statistically, than staunch proponents of gun rights.
Gun deaths are still the highest cause of child fatalities in our nation. Seventy-two percent of Americans claim some sort of religious affiliation. Yet, no matter how great our nation’s faith, children of all races and religions are no safer from gun violence, statistically, than those of the radicals coming for your hunting rifle.
No child’s life is meaningless, unless, apparently, they are shot in the United States. On American soil, the greatest cause of child mortality is gun violence, a wholly preventable epidemic — if our nation ever decides the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” isn’t just a nice sentiment.
“In no other similarly large, wealthy country are firearms in the top four causes of death for children and teens, let alone the number one cause,” reported KFF, formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation.
We consistently lead the world in childhood gun deaths by a wide margin. Yet the nation’s outrage over the endless litany of childhood gun deaths each year, each day, has yet to materialize. Instead, advocates of gun rights went on the offensive immediately following the recent shooting death of one of their own, a vocal advocate with White House connections, during a public event in Utah.
The CDC estimates about seven children die each day from gun violence, and two dozen or more are injured. Yet not a word of that swift condemnation by the nation’s leaders has appeared about these children’s lives, their unnecessary and horrible deaths, on Truth Social or Fox News as of late. Has such tragedy grown to become patently acceptable by our society?
Earlier this month, a six year-old girl in Lafayette, Louisiana died of a gunshot wound she sustained while attending a vigil for — seriously — another gunshot victim during which the community offered up their thoughts and prayers. In July, a nine-year-old was shot and killed by his seven year-old brother in Hearne, Texas. Thoughts and prayers to both the victim and his brother, who must now live with the weight of that single horrible moment for the rest of his life.
Also in July, a 14-year-old in Humble, Texas was shot dead by his 13-year-old brother. Thoughts and prayers for them as well.
Just a few days earlier, a five-year-old in Decatur shot and killed his own twin. Thoughts and prayers.
In February, a three-year-old shot and killed her five year-old sister in North Carolina. Thoughts and prayers.
In April, an eight year-old in Omah was killed trying to wrestle a gun away from her three-year-old sibling, thus giving her life for her little sister’s safety. Thoughts and prayers.
The locations of gun injuries and deaths among children nationwide in 2025 are readily available on an interactive map - titled #Notanaccident - managed by Everytown for Gun Safety. Each dot bears a link to a brief summary of that child’s story. It bruises the soul to read more than a few.
But it makes one thing clear: our nation must choose between being pro-life or being pro-gun. The two have become mutually exclusive. As it stands, we are quickly becoming only pro-birth, where the same child we protect until delivery has no such protections from preventable violence once born.
Yes, there is a place in our society for guns, and responsible gun owners. But those who value their access to such very powerful and very serious weapons must also be willing to do more to enshrine that enormous responsibility than catch a ride with their buddy to the local gun show.
We have DUI laws, seatbelt mandates, and licensing tests to temper unnecessary deaths caused by car wrecks. We accept these minor inconveniences as the cost of driving a potentially deadly hunk of metal and chrome with children aboard. Thus our society has carefully crafted common-sense laws that have dramatically decreased childhood deaths due to car accidents.
Yet by this time tomorrow, another seven American children will have been shot to death, as estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and reported by KFF. This has been an even faster growing threat for Black and Hispanic youth since the pandemic began, having increased by 50% and 73%, respectively, from 2018-2023. Why has this particular national crime wave not even become a blip on the radars of Fox News Nation?
Perhaps their most recent fervor around the latest shooting death isn’t just about gun crime. Maybe it’s actually the shock of losing a valued gun rights warrior to gun violence, as opposed to losing another nameless kid playing at home with their little brother, their twin, their big sister, their friend.
Tomorrow, a new group of mothers will lose their babies to bullets, some fired by their own small hands. Thousands of children will be dead by the end of the year due to gun violence. Until this epidemic of child gun deaths creates equal political vitriol among our elected officials, the nation’s leaders have no right to claim the religious high ground when faced with gun violence elsewhere, as sad as that reality stands.
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