We wish you, your family and loved ones a very Happy Easter weekend !

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We all want to protect children as best we can to make sure then can enjoy a beautiful life.

The below statistics illustrate the risks and dangers they are exposed to every day:

• “In 2019, 3,371 American children and teens were killed with guns.”

• “Child and teen gun deaths hit a 19-year high in 2017 and have remained elevated since.”

• “In 2019, nine children and teens were killed with guns each day in America - one every 2 hours and 36 minutes.”

• “Guns killed more children and teens than cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, ... and opioids combined.”

• “Since 1963, nearly 193,000 children and teens have been killed with guns on American soil - more than four times the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action in the Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars combined.”

• “For every child or teen fatally shot, another 5 suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds.”

• “An estimated 16,644 children and teens were injured with guns in 2018 one every 32 minutes.”

• “Many children even live in homes with loaded, unlocked guns and know where they are kept. Too often, this leads to tragic accidents and preventable deaths. With a growing number of children learning and playing at home during COVID-related closures, the risk of gun accidents and suicides has only increased.”

• “A third of households with children have a gun and nearly half of gun-owning households with children do not store all of their firearms safely.”

• “An estimated 4.6 million children live in homes with at least one unlocked and loaded gun - and most children know where these guns are kept.”

• “About 3 in 4 children ages 5-14 with gun-owning parents know where firearms are stored and more than 1 in 5 have handled a gun in the home without their parents’ knowledge.”

• “Guns in the home are more likely to endanger than protect loved ones. The presence of a gun in the home makes the likelihood of homicide three times higher, suicide three to five times higher, and accidental death four times higher.”

• “Children witnessed, suffered, or died in 611 mass shootings in 2020 - up from 417 in 2019.”

• “Gun accidents in the home have also surged during the pandemic. School and child-care closures have exacerbated children’s risk of dying in gun accidents at home.”

• “Between March and May 2020, accidental gun deaths by children increased by 30 percent relative to rates over the past three years.”

Source: https://www.childrensdefense.org/state-of-americas-children/soac-2021-gun-violence/