Earlier this year, CDF and several other organizations submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court urging the Justices to uphold the District of Columbia handgun ban. Thursday, the Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, struck down the decades-old ban. “The Children’s Defense Fund is disappointed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down D.C.’s handgun ban,” said Susan Gates, General Counsel of Children’s Defense Fund. “Such laws not only provide reasonable restrictions but are critical to protecting children and teens vulnerable to gun violence, as highlighted by CDF’s recently released report, Protect Children, Not Guns.”

Using the most recent data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Protect Children, Not Guns shows that eight children and teens are killed each day by gun violence, a death toll equivalent to one Northern Illinois University shooting every 15 hours or one Virginia Tech massacre every four days. The report also reveals that in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, 3,006 children and teens were killed by firearms, marking the first increase of children and teens killed by gun violence since 1994.

The Children’s Defense Fund believes federal, state and local governments must enact laws to prohibit the use of handguns by and around children and youth to stop tragic deaths and injuries. We also must urge Congress to enact common sense gun safety measures by requiring criminal background checks on those who purchase guns from unlicensed gun dealers. Finally, we must confront America’s culture of violence by stressing non-violent conflict resolution. “In light of the Supreme Court’s decision, every citizen must take action to help ensure our children a safe future,” said Gates.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 9:00 am and is filed under Politics .