gun control

Unattended guns can harm your children. Guns may cause injury or death. Guns may increase the case-fatality rate of firearm suicide attempts. Imagine these phrases plastered on the box of recently purchased gun.

Last week, a 6-year-old boy in Indiana accidentally shot and killed his father with a .38-caliber revolver left unattended on a nearby table. He ran out of the house, distressed and sobbing.

A study published late last year in the American Journal of Medicine illustrates a great disparity in violence between America and other countries. The study, “Violent Death Rates: The US Compared with Other High-income OECD Countries,” used 2010 World Health Organization mortality data to compare rates of violence in the United States against the rates in other high-income and well-populated countries.

The post-Newtown guns discussion has focused mostly on limitation and security. That is predictable, as the tragedy immediately at hand involved a high-capacity rifle on a school campus. But advocates for disadvantaged youths – many of whom live where gun violence comes in small, steady waves and involves handguns – want violence prevention in the mix.

You know Texas? Big state, couple of pro football teams, hints at seceding every once in awhile? Yeah, you’ve heard of it! Here’s an interesting bit of Texas policy news that Youth Services Insider caught onto late in January: There are currently legislative efforts to increase the presence of police in schools, and to reduce the role that police play in school discipline.