Guns, Guns, Guns, and Dead Children, but Hey, That's Normal!

Kids shooting themselves and others, or getting murdered. All the time. Sounds like the good ole USA...

Sandy Hook broke our hearts. Now, uh, meh...

I see stories like this every day. Each one pains me. I shudder, then turn the page. But this bit in Slate caught me all over again. America, we should be ashamed. But, well, I guess not. Horrifying.

On Wednesday, a 2-year-old boy in Indianapolis found a gun in his mother's purse, which was on a kitchen counter, and somehow shot himself to death.

Friday, reports indicate that at least seven people—five adults and two children—were found shot to death on a piece of property in southern Ohio.* One local TV station says the seven victims were related; it's not clear whether the perpetrator of the shooting is among the dead.

These events are tragic, but not unusual. According to the Gun Violence Archive, 166 children 11 or younger have been killed or injured by guns in the United States thus far in 2016. In fact, when I went to the archive's site to look up that number, I found stories about a 1-year-old in Missouri who died after being shot on Thursday, a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old who were shot and killed by their father in Texas on Tuesday, and a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old who were shot and killed by their father in Florida on Monday. This stuff isn't even "news" anymore, really. Why am I even writing about it?

I included the entire short article. Thank you, Ben Mathis-Lilley of Slate. Don't stop writing about it. Ever. Please.