Firearm-related deaths are now the leading cause of death in U.S. children. The push to make guns more available is resulting in more tragic outcomes. In the U.S., putting too much mayonnaise on a sandwich can be a death sentence:

• The Telegraph (Macon, Ga, 6/27/22): Dispute over mayonnaise leads to customer killing Subway worker, Georgia cops say.

In Georgia, the law, signed by current governor Brian Kemp, allows Georgians to carry concealed handguns without first getting a license from the state. This law along with a previous “Guns Everywhere Law” has been associated with increased gun sales and increased gun violence and deaths.

After Uvalde, Amanda Gorman published the following poem

NY Times (5/27/22): Hymn For The Hurting

Everything hurts,
Our hearts shadowed and strange,
Minds made muddied and mute.
We carry tragedy, terrifying and true.
And yet none of it is new;
We knew it as home,
As horror,
As heritage.
Even our children
Cannot be children,
Cannot be.

Everything hurts.
It’s a hard time to be alive,
And even harder to stay that way.
We’re burdened to live out these days,
While at the same time, blessed to outlive them.

This alarm is how we know
We must be altered —
That we must differ or die,
That we must triumph or try.
Thus while hate cannot be terminated,
It can be transformed
Into a love that lets us live.

May we not just grieve, but give:
May we not just ache, but act;
May our signed right to bear arms
Never blind our sight from shared harm;
May we choose our children over chaos.
May another innocent never be lost.

Maybe everything hurts,
Our hearts shadowed & strange.
But only when everything hurts
May everything change.

Related blog posts:

• “Crossing Lines” and Why Firearm Deaths are The Leading Cause of Death in Children
• Tired of Seeing This Headline
• Firearms: #1 Cause of Pediatric Deaths & Households with Guns =More Deaths includes link to AAP toolkit/advocacy
• No Exaggeration: Too Many Children Are Dying in the U.S. “The sad fact is that a child or adolescent in the United States is 57% more likely to die by the age of 19 years than those in other wealthy nations.” This is due mainly to more deaths from MVAs and from gun violence.
• Shush -Let’s Not Talk About Firearm Safety
• Firearm Mortality -Tragic Inertia
• Another Day in the US: School Deaths Related to Firearms
• Is It OK for Pediatricians to try to Prevent Firearm Injuries? Focus on Child Safety –Not on Gun Safety  “We know that nearly 1 in 10 families with guns admit to keeping at least 1 gun loaded and unlocked, and nearly one-half keep at least 1 gun unlocked.”
• Physician narrative on gun control | gutsandgrowth
• NY Times: End the Gun Epidemic in America |gutsandgrowth
• A Call to Arms for Health Care Professionals