Howard Herrell
March 14 at 11:54am · Mosheim, TN ·

I was in Washington DC and saw the moving demonstration of 7000 pairs of shoes on the Capitol Lawn that represent all of the children killed by gun violence since Sandy Hook. It was disturbing and compelling to see this in person.

But let me give you a couple of things to think about from a person who likes data and data driven decisions.

Since Sandy Hook, guns have only killed about 570 children aged 0-12, not 7000. The larger number comes from including teenagers up to 19 who are dying in gang and drug related deaths in cities like Baltimore and Chicago, almost exclusively employing stolen handguns.

570 children killed by guns is still far too many, though.

But consider this point also. In that same time period, another 2312 children aged 0-12 were murdered without guns. Almost five times as many were killed without a gun. Most of these were children under 5. In fact, more infants (children under 1) were murdered by being beaten to death in that time period than were children under 13 killed by guns.

Beaten to death!

Most were beaten just with fists, others with blunt objects, many were strangled, and some were stabbed. But most were just beaten to death with fists.

We have a violence problem in America, not an access to guns problem. Can you imagine why a parent would beat a child to death with their hands or a blunt object? What would lead a person to such unspeakable hate and anger. A gun almost seems merciful in context.

Let’s try to not present data out of context or misportray it to make political points. These shoes were meant to encourage a ban on assault weapons, but since Sandy Hook only about 10 kids under 12 were killed with the weapons that would be banned. Meanwhile, that many children each year are strangled by a parent and twenty times that many each year are beaten to death. (That’s each year!)

Let’s spend some time talking about the real issues and stop making cheap political points. Let’s address what would cause a mother to beat her child to death. We may learn something profound. Then let’s address the epidemic of drug- and gang-related violence that accounts for the rest of violence portrayed by these shoes.

(Clarification: stats are from FBI website)