An American media organization: The spread of weapons and violence in the United States threatens the lives of children

Washington-Sana

National Public Radio, an American media organization funded by private and public bodies, warned that the proliferation of guns in American society, and the accompanying incidents of armed violence, poses a greater threat to the lives of children in the United States than in any other rich country.

In a report published on its website under the title (the United States is awful when it comes to protecting children from gun violence), the radio said that American civilians possess about 400 million individual firearms, noting that the killing of 19 fourth-grade students and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Texas in Earlier this month, it again prompted many to question why the US authorities have failed to enforce any significant amendments to the soft gun laws despite the horrific mass shootings that are now taking place frequently in the country.

She said that homicides are not limited to schools only.. The danger to American children and adolescents is exacerbated, whether it is caused by gun-related violence they are exposed to in their neighbourhoods, or by suicide, or accidents in their homes where guns are not monitored.

The radio indicated that in 2020, individual weapons were the leading cause of death among children and young adults in the United States, where researchers from the University of Michigan found that while firearm-related deaths in general increased 13.5 percent between 2019 and 2020, it rose among children and adolescents by an amazing 30 percent. percent.

According to the radio, researchers from San Francisco University and Harvard College found in a study based on 2015 data that the United States was the center of the vast majority of firearm deaths among children in the world. Of the 29 countries included in the study, the United States accounted for about 97 percent of firearm deaths. Among children four years of age or younger, 92 percent of firearm deaths are in those ages 5 to 14.

And data issued by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed last week that firearm homicides in 2020 increased by 35 percent from what it was in 2019, when the United States witnessed 19,350 murders with a firearm in 2020.

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