Gun Violence Prevention: a Leadership Training on Saturday at U.S.C.

As a part of President and Mrs. Obama's day of service commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. and the Presidential Inauguration, I attended a training called Days of Dialogue at U.S.C. on the 19th.  We were oriented on the issue of gun violence and ways to lead dialogue in our communities.  I learned several interesting statistics.  One is that every day, there are 35 homicides and 46 suicides by gun in this country.  It is estimated that if a gun would not have been present, 90% of the suicides could have been prevented.  More than half of the youth who committed suicide with a gun obtained the gun from their home, usually a parent's gun.  Over 1.69 million kids age 18 and under are living in households with loaded and unlocked firearms.

I also learned that 7 of the top ten states with the strongest gun laws have the lowest gun death rates.  These include Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and California.  The other three states with the lowest fun death rates are Minnesota, Iowa and Maine.