Gun Violence in America: Children Take A Hit

“I’m just glad I made it to 18.” 

– Devonte Friedman on his 18^th  birthday, November 26, of 2018, five days before he was shot to death in Baltimore, Maryland

During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when the founding members of RARE attended Roosevelt High School, the idea of school of shootings was more distant than the stars. Today that idea is a daily reality for every student who enters Roosevelt or any American classroom.

According to Everytown For Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization that has tracked shootings in America since 2013, there have been 122 incidents of gunfire in American schools in 2024 alone, resulting in 34 deaths and 69 injuries. These tragedies occur more often in schools with high percentages of Black and Latino students.

The threat of being shot for young Americans extends well beyond schools. It is there in shopping malls, at parades, concert halls, and on the streets of any town in all sections of the country. Gun violence has exploded in this country and is now the leading cause of death for children ages1-17. And it strikes with racial inequities, with Black and Brown children suffering its effects the most.

School shootings, Everytown states, “is just the tip of the iceberg” as far as the gun-related horrors to which children and teens in this country are subjected. Everytown cites over 4,000 American children shot and killed every year and more than 17,000 shot and wounded. An additional 3,000,000 children are exposed to shootings every year with often life-altering effects such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Though untouched by bullets, children who witness shootings are more likely to have difficulties in school and engage in criminal activities.

Although shootings are the leading cause of death among white children, gun violence and killings fall far more heavily on children of color. According to Everytown, Black children are 17 times more likely than white children and three times more likely than Hispanic children to be killed by guns. Ebenezer Haile who was shot and killed at Ingraham High School in 2022 and Amarr Murphy-Paine, shot and killed at Garfield High School in 2024, two Black youths, bare out this grim statistic.

Everytown cites historical practices that have enforced “racial segregation and disinvestment” that have left many predominantly Black communities with “high levels of poverty and joblessness and low levels of investment in education”. These factors, Everytown states, increase the risk that Black youth “isolated from institutions such as schools and jobs…will engage in crime and violence, thus feeding into this viscous cycle of violence”.

What to do?

Everytown lists a litany of laws and policies that have reduced gun violence, with the promise of saving more of American youth if adopted in a greater number of states.  Below is a list of suggestions, each with a rationale:

• Expand background checks for all gun sales: Gun shows and unlicensed dealers are not required to by federal law to administer criminal background checks, providing a loophole for convicted felons and domestic abusers access to guns.
• Enact “Red Flag” laws. Also known as Extreme Risk laws, Red Flag laws enable family members and law officials to petition a judge to temporarily block a person from possessing a gun if deemed to be a threat to others or to him or herself. This law is credited for reducing suicides which constitute well over 50% of adult gun deaths. (31% for minors)  Less than half of the United States (only 21 states), have Red Flag laws on the books.
• Enact Secure Storage laws. These laws require gun owners to responsibly store their firearms. The majority of gun-related deaths involve a weapon taken from an unsecured household; 68% of guns used in incidents were taken from the home of a family or friend.  (A prime example was the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.) Secure weapon practices reduce self-inflicted and unintentional injuries in children and teens by 85%.
• Outlaw gun rights for domestic abusers. According to research, women are five times more likely to be killed in a domestic dispute when a gun is involved. As are children. Laws prohibiting those convicted of domestic violence from owning guns save lives.

Everytown suggests programs and strategies that communities and schools should embrace to reduce gun violence and the trauma associated with it. They include Crisis Intervention Centers, Safe and Equitable Schools, and Youth-Centric Intervention Centers, building safe and trusting school climates, and avoiding practices that can harm and traumatize students.

The United States is awash in guns. For many kids in America today, trying to stay alive is a daily chore.

It was a daily chore for Devonte Friedman. Devonte had turned himself around after a few scrapes with the law. A year before becoming the year’s 301st murder victim in Baltimore he had spoken to city council members about preventing violence. At age 17 he had been accepted into several colleges.

At age 18 he was dead.

Learn more at the Everytown For Gun Safety website.