With the US focused on gun safety for the first time in decades, now is the time to ask a fundamental question: will it finally stop favouring the industry over its children’s human rights?
In the past 30 years, more than 116,000 children and teenagers have been killed by firearms. That is 3,800 young people – or 190 tragedies such as December’s attack at Newtown – each year. Another 15,000 are injured annually. Estimated long-term health costs run to billions of dollars.
If thousands of young people were harmed each year by household products, Americans would clamour for regulation. But when it comes to guns, the country has a blind spot.