In the first 45 days of 2018, there have already been 18 incidents involving active shooters on school grounds in the United States. The latest incident involved a high school in South Florida. Students flooded social media on Valentine’s Day with videos of themselves barricaded in classrooms. Gunfire and screams echoed in the background. Parents huddled together outside of the school, waiting and hoping that their children were alive. At the last press release, the fatalities totaled 17. And the last time this happened, we were told that it wasn’t the time to discuss gun control.

Is it time now? Have enough children died?

“Yes, people pull the trigger – but guns are the instrument of death. Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death and horror.” -Eliot Spitzer

The tragedy that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is the 180^th mass shooting in the United States since 2009.

A mass shooting is defined as any attack with a gun that results in four or more casualties. A bleak and startling reality attached to that statistic is that children make up about 25% of the deaths in mass shooting events. Looking back, it is very easy to see how many of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States have taken place at schools: Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech University, Columbine. How many more will it take before we can agree that the lives of children are more precious than your guns?

Children make up about 25% of the deaths in mass shooting events

Let’s check out some facts from The Brady Campaign. It is estimated that each day, 46 children and teens are shot in murders, assaults, suicides, suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, and during police intervention. This averages out to about 17,012 children and teenagers that are shot each year. Of those 17,012 children and teenagers, about 2,647 of them will die from their injuries. The Brady Campaign provides statistics showing that in the United States, 1 out of 3 homes with children have guns, and nearly 1.7 million children live in a home with an unlocked, loaded gun.

A Pew study from 2013 estimated that there were about 270 million to 310 million guns in the United States. Compare that statistic to the Census Bureau estimation that there are about 326 million people living in the United States. This makes the argument that “more guns equal more safety” seem ridiculous. UCLA law professor Adam Winkler said, “If more guns made America safer, we’d be an awfully safe place.” Others echo his sentiments, like Daniel Webster, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research at the Bloomberg School of Public Health who told NBC News, “As a researcher, that drives me nuts. Guns increase the number of everyday moments or interactions – like bar fights, road rage, suicidal thoughts – that turn lethal. The more guns are readily available, the more shootings occur. That’s what the latest research shows. When states make it easier for people to carry guns, the number of incidents of aggravated assault grows.”

Can we talk about gun control now?