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 and Teen Firearm Deaths On the Rise in CA and Nation

play audio
Play

Wednesday, June 11, 2008   

Sacramento, CA - After more than a decade of decline, gun deaths of children in the United States have increased for the first time since 1994. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that more than 3,000 children died in the year 2005 in gun-related deaths, including nearly 500 California babies, children and teens.

Susan Gates with the Children's Defense Fund analyzed the statistics and says the increase coincides with the expiration of the federal assault weapons ban.

"What we do know is that when gun laws are in effect, gun safety mechanisms, that deaths and accidents among children and teens go down dramatically."

In a report titled "Protect Children, Not Guns", based on the CDC figures,the CDF calls for "common sense" gun safety measures, encourages parents to remove guns from homes, and asks parents to boycott products that glamorize violence.

Griffin Dix with the Oakland chapter of the Brady Campaign lost his son to gun violence in 1994. He says that, although California has put gun safety and gun purchasing laws on the books, tougher federal action is needed.

"We need to make it harder for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons. You know, it's much wiser to have prevention and to have these laws in place. And the laws I’m talking about do not make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to own guns."

A bill moving through the California Legislature, AB 2235, would require that handguns include recognition technology in their grips that allows only the registered gun owner to fire the weapon.

Gun rights groups warn against new gun laws, saying they infringe on the constitutional right to bear arms, and they say carrying a gun protects personal safety for many Californians.

The CDF report is available at www.childrensdefense.org.
Information on the proposed AB 2235 can be found at www.assembly.ca.gov.





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