Why Gun Control is a Children’s Health Issue

We have a special guest blogger today: Becky Richardson, President of Promise the Children!

I want to follow up on Shelby’s report about the recent shootings of children in Chances for Peace in the Midst of Boston Violence.

Death and injury by firearms is a serious health hazard for our nation’s children. According to the Million Mom March, eight children are shot and killed each day and on average one thousand children commit suicide with a gun annually.

I am reading Child Health in America: Making a Difference Through Advocacy by Judith Palfrey, M.D. Dr. Palfrey says in this book “the fiercest special interest group with anti-child health positions is the National Rifle Association.” She goes on to explain that this organization has cleverly and effectively blocked both the regulation of the gun industry and the broad publication of information by our governmental agencies about the hazards and dangers of the use of firearms.
    
However there is good news. The website www.millionmommarch.org gives you the following information:

• The contact information in your state for local chapters that advocate for safety.
  

• Information from the “Brady Report Card” on how your state’s regulations are graded in terms of safety from gun violence.

•  Actions to take in your state to protect children and families from gun violence.

Let’s join together with the Million Mom March and take action to protect our communities from violence!

Quilts Made For Children, By Children

UU’s in the Media has been a great source recently for news about Unitarian Universalists helping children. It pointed me this week to this sweet story in the Journal & Courier of Lafayette, Indiana, about a quilting project at the local Unitarian Universalist Church:

Dozens of men, women and children from the Unitarian Universalist Church stitched together 28 quilts to give to infants and children who had been taken recently from homes where crystal methamphetamine had been produced in Tippecanoe County.

"The chemicals and the drug can be toxic to children’s skin," said Patty Wood, the most experienced quilter at the church and leader of the Unitarian Universalist’s Fiberarts group. "Their blankets, clothes and toys usually have to be taken away because they’re tainted with the chemicals.

This project not only provides special gifts to children going through traumatic events, but also draws on the talents of children in the congregation. Children as young as nine have learned to sew and create quilts under Wood’s guidance.

Chances for Peace in the Midst of Boston Violence

This weekend brought news of thirteen-year-old Luis Gerena being murdered near his home in Boston. This is the third middle-school boy who has been murdered in Boston within the last several weeks. Like Emmanuel Benjamin Saintil, a fourteen-year-old who was shot on December 22nd, Luis Gerena attended the school where I teach part-time. The violence is emotionally traumatizing for children, family members, teachers, church members, and many other people who belong to the communities of which these boys have been a part.

I believe this kind of violence is preventable--that these boys might not have been killed if there were more support for anti-violence programs in Boston. I read in today’s Washington Post about Peaceoholics , a D.C.-based program that reaches out to young people who are considering violence, and gives them encouragement to make a better choice. This kind of program offers the possibility of saving lives. Knowing that successful models for youth violent prevention do exist gives me some hope when the barrage of loss is overwhelming.