As a youngster, I loved playing Jarts. I’m old enough to remember the original version. The heavy metal tips were designed to stick firmly in the ground if you threw the lawn dart with enough of an arc.
In 1987, a seven-year-old girl was killed when a Jart thrown by another child penetrated her skull. At that time, there had been 6,100 emergency room visits in the past 8 years resulting from lawn dart injuries, but the federal government had resisted banning the product. Enough was enough – public outrage over this death led the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to immediately ban Jarts (although you can now buy a safer version with plastic tips). I could live without Jarts.
Fast forward to 2022. The Center for Disease Control reports that 3,219 children aged 1 to 18 died from firearms in 2020 — the leading cause of death for this age group. Mass killings of children involving assault rifles are all too frequent. Hundreds of children die annually when guns are not safely secured in the home. Irresponsible gun sellers target youth in their advertisements. The few gun safety regulations that exist are riddled with loopholes.
So how did we get to a place where one unnecessary childhood death was too many when it came to Jarts, but 3,219 children dying from firearms each year isn’t enough to justify taking significant action regarding firearms safety?
The modest reform package working its way through Congress is a good first step and hopefully will pass, although it’s discouraging to hear that some members of Congress will not even support these common-sense reforms. More will need to be done if we really care about keeping children alive by reducing the number of childhood firearm deaths.
Ron Ketter
Easton
Suzanne Todd says
Thank you, Mr. Ketter. The mass shootings are horrific, but even the shooting of one person leaves so many suffering. As you said, the proposed legislation is weak but a step in the right direction. We can’t give up with just that. We have to keep fighting for legislation to require secure gun storage, Red Flag laws, universal background checks. Check with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense to learn more. And this organization is NOT about taking guns away from those who should have them.
Stephen Schaare says
Ron, Any parent that does not triple secure a firearm with children present has to be severely prosecuted.
Steve
Jim Moses CDR, USN (Ret.) says
Mr. Schaare, you and I are in complete agreement here. You could, however, also share with the readers the true Second Amendment, not the one hijacked by the NRA. You know, the one written when there was no standing army and the defense of the new nation depended solely on the “militias of the states.”
Steve Funderburk says
Well said. Jarts vs AR-15s? Tough call. Jarts need the protection of a wildly interpreted constitutional amendment, rich manufacturing firms, and a malignant lobby firm. After all, the U.S. has the best democracy money can buy.
Meg Olmert says
Gun control will not kill us.