There is an increase in gun violence, and the shooters are – toddlers!
Deadly shootings involving toddlers are in fact more common than people would think. Just in the last few weeks, there have been at least seven instances with toddlers shooting themselves or others in the U.S.:
- On April 20, a 2-year-old boy in Indiana found his mother’s gun in her purse, which she had left on the kitchen counter, and fatally shot himself.
- On April 21, a 1-year-old girl in Missuori found her father’s gun in the house and shot herself while he was sleeping.
- On April 22, a 3-year-old boy in Louisiana got hold of a gun and fatally shot himself in the head.
- On April 26, a 3-year-old boy in Georgia fatally got struck in the chest when a gun he was playing with went off.
- On April 27, a 2-year-old in Wisconsin fatally shot his mother from the back seat of a car.
- On April 27, a 3-year-old boy in Michigan found a gun at home in a drawer and shot himself in the arm. He is recovering from the accident.
- On April 29, a 3-year-old girl in Georgia found a gun in the car and shot herself so the bullet exited her backside. She is recovering from the accident and expected to survive.
The increase in gun violence by toddlers can be measured from last year. In 2015, toddlers shot people at a rate of about one a week. In 2016, there have been at least 23 toddler-involved shootings since Jan. 1. There were 18 toddler-shootings during the same period last year.
In most of these shootings, toddlers find a gun laying around and accidentally shoot themselves when playing with it. That has happened 18 times this year.
Nine of those children died of their injuries.
Incidents of toddlers shooting other people have happened five times this year, with two of them ending in deaths. One of them is the incident in Milwaukee, and the other a 3-year-old boy from Alabama who shot his 9-year-old brother in February.
So where does these gruesome toddler-shootings take place? Looking at the map; it’s clear they are not spread out across the states in even numbers.
Georgia is home to the highest number of toddler shootings. There has been at least eight incidents since January 2015.
Texas and Missouri had seven shootings each, while Florida and Michigan had six shootings apiece.
While there are no clear statistics of why some states are overrepresented in toddler-shootings, these numbers indicate a slight correlation between more Republican-leaning states, lax gun laws, and the gun violence caused by toddlers. Surprised?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXBHOxjeBFA
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