More must be done to protect kids from guns

By Heather Martens
Star Tribune

The Star Tribune's March 23 editorial "Perception of youth crime not a reality" discusses only a decline in the perpetration of violence by youth, totally missing a major problem we still face. Our children and youth are increasingly the victims of violence, particularly gun violence. Even as we remember the deaths of six children and four others at Red Lake a year ago last week, two more children were shot Sunday night in Minneapolis. Yet we as a state are not doing all we can to protect our children from gun violence -- not even close.

In 2003, 40 Minnesota children and youth were killed by gunfire, an increase over the year before. Non-fatal gun injuries in Minnesota children and teens have nearly doubled since 1999. In St. Paul recently, a 16-year-old girl was rescued from a convicted sex offender who had used a gun to kidnap and force her into prostitution. Children in some neighborhoods live in constant fear. To editorialize that "communities, schools and families" alone must act is to ignore the failure of government to repair our weak gun laws.

As the Star Tribune reported, there has been a nationwide decline in the number of federally licensed gun dealers. Thus, fewer gun dealers are required by the 1993 Brady Law to conduct background checks on gun purchasers. Because of a loophole in the Brady Law, criminals and other dangerous people can buy guns at gun shows without a background check -- as did the Hennepin County Government Center shooter. Despite the loophole, the Brady Law has prevented 1.4 million dangerous people from buying guns. Let's close the gun-show loophole. Let's publicly disclose the source of crime guns, so those channels can be closed to criminals. And let's adopt and enforce child access prevention laws with real teeth, as well as simple safety requirements for guns, such as chamber-loaded indicators.

U.S. children 5 to 14 are 17 times likelier to die from gunfire than their peers in other wealthy nations -- despite similar levels of violent crime. When we resolved to reduce traffic death and injury, we adopted a public health approach, and it worked. Despite gun-trade profiteers' claims that "nothing works," a public health approach to gun violence prevention does work. All that's lacking is the will.