The Fine Print

A headline in the New York Times caused a brief flurry (modest, really, per usual) about a mother driving in Milwaukee with her two-year old in the back (but apparently not in a car seat), seeing a gun slide back from under the driver’s seat, got a hold of it and it went off, hitting the mother. She managed to steer the car to the side of the road but was dead by the time help arrived.
    Horrifying, but was the story’s fine print worse?

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In tales of gun violence, accidents involving curious children and weapons seem especially tragic, but they are not especially unusual. Most often, they involve guns left unsecured by the child’s parents.

In the seven days that ended Tuesday, in addition to the death of Ms. Price, a 3-year-old in Georgia, a 3-year-old in Louisiana, a 2-year-old in Missouri and a 2-year-old in Indiana fatally shot themselves; a 4-year-old in Texas shot and wounded a family member; a 16-year-old in California killed a 14-year- old friend in a shooting that officials called accidental; a 15-year-old in Texas accidentally shot and wounded a 16-year-old friend; and a 13-year-old in Indiana accidentally shot and wounded herself.

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    That’s in one week.
    They say guns don’t kill people; people kill people. No. Guns kill people. There was no intent to kill on the part of the humans in these examples. From sea to shining sea, the United States contains over 270 million firearms, more per capita than any other nation in the world. Leaving aside the homicides and the even greater number of suicides by firearms, there are quite enough weapons lying around for things to just…happen.