"Protect Children, Not Guns: The Truth About Guns" Fact Sheet from The Children’s Defense Fund
On March 29, 2013, the Children’s Defense Fund released their new fact sheet "Protect Children, Not Guns: The Truth About Guns." Here are the major points from the fact sheet (condensed):
- A gun in the home increases the risk of homicide, suicide, and accidental death.
- Many children live in homes with loaded and unlocked guns. Every parent and grandparent needs to be careful where their children play and ask if there is a gun in the home.
- Guns make violence more deadly.
- Better enforcement of current gun safety laws is needed but is not enough.
- The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is forbidden from regulating the sale and manufacture of guns.
- Common sense gun safety laws help reduce gun violence while protecting the legal use of guns.
- Tighter regulation and oversight of gun sellers.
- Requiring background checks for purchases through private sellers as well as dealers.
- Firearm prohibitions for high-risk groups.
- Child access prevention laws.
- Well-designed assault weapons ban.
- Loopholes in prior gun safety laws prevented them from being as effective as necessary.
- Common sense gun safety regulations protect lawful ownership and use of guns.
- The majority of Americans, including gun owners and NRA members, support common sense gun safety regulation.
- Armed school guards and teachers will not necessarily make children safer but will jeopardize the futures of some children.
- Criminal background checks work; and making them universal at the federal level would make them far more effective.
- Universal background checks will not lead to a registry of gun owners.
- The NRA has actively prevented enforcement of current gun safety laws.
- The NRA represents a small minority of gun owners.
You can find the full text following this link to CDF's website: http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-data-repository/the-truth-about-guns.pdf