A student is dead and four students are injured after a shooting at Chardon High School, WKYC reports.
Parents rushed to the schools to make sure their own children were ok, and tearful reunions were broadcast on local TV news reports.
In light of these events, do you worry about your kids safety? Take our poll.
How do you explain these kinds of events to your kids? Tell us in the comments.
In 2007, guns took the lives of 31,224 Americans in homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings. This is the equivalent of more than 85 deaths each day and more than three deaths each hour. 69,863 Americans were treated in hospital emergency department for non-fatal gunshot wounds in 2007. Firearms were the third-leading cause of injury-related deaths nationwide in 2007, following motor vehicle accidents and poisoning. Between 1955 and 1975, the Vietnam War killed over 58,000 American soldiers – less than the number of civilians killed with guns in the U.S. in an average two-year period. In the first seven years of the U.S.-Iraq War, over 4,400 American soldiers were killed. Almost as many civilians are killed with guns in the U.S., however, every seven weeks. Guns were used in 12,632 homicides in 2007, comprising over 40% of all gun deaths, and nearly 69% of all homicides. On average, 33 gun homicides were committed each day for the years 2002-2007. Regions and states with higher rates of gun ownership have significantly higher rates of homicide than states with lower rates of gun ownership. Where guns are prevalent, there are significantly more homicides, particularly gun homicides.
On average, 46 gun suicides were committed each day for the years 2001-2007. White males, about 40% of the U.S. population, accounted for over 80% of firearm suicides in 2007. More than 75% of guns used in suicide attempts and unintentional injuries of 0-19 year-olds were stored in the residence of the victim, a relative, or a friend. The risk of suicide increases in homes where guns are kept loaded and/or unlocked. Unintentional Deaths & Injuries In 2007, guns were the cause of the unintentional deaths of 613 people. From 2001 through 2007, over 4,900 people in the United States died from unintentional shootings. Over 1,750 victims of unintentional shootings between 2001 and 2007 were under 25 years of age. People of all age groups are significantly more likely to die from unintentional firearm injuries when they live in states with more guns, relative to states with fewer guns. On average, states with the highest gun levels had nine times the rate of unintentional firearms deaths compared to states with the lowest gun levels. A federal government study of unintentional shootings found that 8% of such shooting deaths resulted from shots fired by children under the age of six. The U.S. General Accounting Office has estimated that 31% of unintentional deaths caused by firearms might be prevented by the addition of two devices: a child-proof safety lock (8%) and a loading indicator (23%).2
Guns cause the death of 20 children and young adults (24 years of age and under) each day in the U.S. Children and young adults (24 years of age and under) constitute over 41% of all firearm deaths and non-fatal injuries. In the United States, over 1.69 million kids age 18 and under are living in households with loaded and unlocked firearms.
The U.S. has the highest rate of firearm deaths among 25 high-income nations.66 Another study concluded that among 36 high-income and upper-middle-income countries, the U.S. has the highest overall gun mortality rate. The overall firearm-related death rate among U.S. children under the age of 15 is nearly 12 times higher than that among children in 25 other industrialized nations combined. The firearm-related suicide rate for children between the ages of 5 and 14 years old in the United States is nearly 11 times higher than that in 25 other developed countries. Americans own far more civilian firearms – particularly handguns – than people in other industrialized nations and U.S. gun laws are among the most lax in the world.
- Warren Burger, former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, Parade Magazine, 1/14/90 "Mutual protection should be the aim of citizens, not individual self-protection. Until we are willing to outlaw the very existence or manufacture of civilian handguns we have no right to call ourselves citizens or consider our behavior even minimally civil." - Garry Wills
would you deny a victim of human trafficing any possibility of accessing a firearm? Her trafficer's would.
every legal gun owner knew Ms. Creese's litany was coming as soon as this story hit the news. It's just that, a dogmatic litany. It changes no opinions. It's just noise.
Please don't feed the troll!
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics" - Mark Twain
LOL. But trolls are so insistant.
i actually found it odd that chardon didn't have anything in place and i wonder, how many other schools in the area use preventative measures like metal detectors, disallowing backpacks, random locker searches, etc? just having a lock-down procedure and hoping that nobody's troubled enough to cause a tragedy like this won't keep the tragedy from happening; it just tries to mitigate the damage.
How do you know Chardon does not do random locker searches? Oh. You don't. Disallowing backpacks? You've got to be joking. Why don't we have the kids turn their pockets inside out before entering the school, too. Good grief. People who suggest that metal detectors should be in every school is flat-out ridiculous (not to mention very expensive). Plus, you seem to be missing the point of lock-downs (and Chardon does them regularly) why they're done and put into place. The purpose IS to mitigate damage, etc. This was ONE instance that happened. A school can take all of the precautions possible, but NONE are 100%. Nor, is it possible to plan for every scenario. If someone is hell-bent on doing something, they'll find a way to do it. People need to cease using a tragedy like this to springboard into their agenda and/or using this as another opportunity to criticize/blame -- even remotely -- the schools (like so many love to do any chance they get).