Over the holiday weekend in the United States, at least 6 innocent children aged 6 to 14 were killed in gun violence. It has sparked renewed calls for gun control and an end to the never ending violence that plagues the country.
The names and details of some of the children have now been revealed:
The 8-year-old died in Atlanta when the car she was riding in was fired upon by armed assailants. None of the perpetrators have yet been arrested though a reward for information has been offered. The mayor of Atlanta said:
"We're fighting the enemy within when we are shooting each other up in our streets. You shot and killed a baby. And it wasn't one shooter, there was at least two shooters."
Royta De' Marco Giles
The 8-year-old was killed in Hoover, Alabama, was caught in the crossfire as two groups of men engaged in a gun battle inside a mall. It is believed that the fight was gang related and one man has been arrested. Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.
Davon McNeal
The 11-year-old from Washington DC was killed after as many as five men opened fire on another individual. Like Royta, De' Marco Giles, he was an innocent bystander cut down in the crossfire. His grandfather was a long-time anti-gun and anti-violence advocate.
Natalia Wallace
The 7-year-old was killed in Chicago while she was playing in the yard. Witnesses claim that a group of three men drove up in a car and opened fire on another group of men who were standing outside a home, Natalia was hit by a bullet and died later at hospital.
"Kids outside playing, they shouldn't have to worry about guns and people shooting."
A 14-year-old was also shot in Chicago while a 6-year-old was murdered in San Francisco.
The most up to date statistics on gun violence relate to the year 2017 in which almost 40,000 Americans died as the result of a gun. 60% of those were suicides and 37% of those were murders, meaning over 14,000 people were murdered by guns. While murders in the US have declined since a peak in the late 80s and early 90s, the most recent years have seen an uptick in the number of those killed.
In the UK, there is on average just over 60 deaths a year as a result of firearms. The rest of Europe has similarly low levels of gun deaths.
It is surely about time that the US cracks down on the weapons of death that plague our communities.
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