Prevent youth assault by assaulting firearm violence.

For decades, firearm injuries have been a leading cause of death, acquired disability, emotional anguish, and fear for our children and their families. Counting is easy: .32 000 deaths and 84 000 nonfatal shootings occurred in the United States in 2013. Among the average of 320 shootings per day were 48 children aged ,19 years or 130 youth aged ,25 years. What is harder to enumerate is the impact on affected siblings, cousins, neighbors, and classmates, as well as the classmates—children who may have witnessed the event or experience it in the retelling. Too many feel scared and alone. A portion will arm themselves, for “protection.” Thus, our children will be terribly harmed or will do terrible harm, or both, largely as a result of easy access to firearms.