skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Children With Guns: Who Gets Punished?

play audio
Play

Thursday, March 3, 2016   

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri leads the nation in the number of children getting their hands on guns and accidentally hurting themselves or others.

Last year, five children shot themselves or someone else.

State Rep. Stacey Newman (D-St. Louis) has authored a bill that says a person could be prosecuted for first-degree child endangerment if he or she knowingly fails to keep a loaded deadly weapon out of the reach of a child who's younger than 17.

Newman says it's needed to keep children safe.

"This is something that many states have in terms of tools to allow prosecutors to actually charge adults when their gun has been accidentally or negligently used by a child," she explains.

Newman's bill hasn't been assigned to committee yet. She says it's controversial, so if Missouri residents want to see it approved, they need to put pressure on their local lawmakers to make sure it comes up for a vote.

Newman says it's sad that lawmakers have to legislate what should just be common sense.

"Keeping cigarettes away from kids, putting your kids in a car seat, you know, making sure they're in a safe crib, making sure that you're not smothering them with blankets,” she points out. “We do have to put things into law because our children's lives should be worth it."

Newman says children are not in charge of their own safety – that's what adults are for.

Newman concedes it could be a rough road for the bill because it's a political year and gun legislation is always controversial. She says lawmakers aren't very consistent when it comes to protecting children.

"We spend so much time in our own Legislature talking about pro-life things in terms of trying to make abortion much harder to access,” she states. “It's all this thought about life, and yet on the other hand, when we're talking about guns and children's lives, it really should be a no-brainer."

The gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety says last year 265 children younger than 18 picked up a firearm and accidentally shot themselves or someone else. That works out to about five accidental shootings by children each week.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021