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|January 3, 2013|
New Key Facts Released on Children and Guns
WASHINGTON, DC—Today, the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) released a federal policy agenda to protect children from the epidemic of gun violence in America. In a new fact sheet CDF found a child or teen dies or is injured from guns every 30 minutes. Between 1979 and 2010, 119,079 children and teens died from guns. This is more deaths in 32 years than U.S. soldiers killed in action in the Vietnam, Korean, Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined. The common sense gun safety laws in CDF’s agenda would help keep guns out of the hands of children and those who would use them against children. The four policy proposals are:
The CDF federal policy agenda to ensure every child a safe start includes strengthening mental health resources and a commitment to counter the culture of violence by expanding access to programs that work to reduce community and gun violence. Read the full CDF federal policy agenda to ensure every child a safe start and CDF’s new Protect Children, Not Guns: Key Facts.
“The heartrending massacre of 20 six- and seven-year old children and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut must galvanize all of us to take action to protect children instead of guns,” said Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund. “Gun violence saturates our children’s lives. More children and teens die from guns every three days than died in the Newtown massacre. What is it going to take for the American people to push the President and members of Congress and Governors and state legislators to stand up to the NRA and place protection of children and youths and citizens ahead of the protection of guns? How much is a child’s life worth in America today? A classroom of children?”
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For more information contact Patti Hassler, Vice President of Communications and Outreach, at (202) 662-3554 or firstname.lastname@example.org.
Follow the conversation on Twitter #ProtectChildrenNotGuns.
The Children’s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.