We use cookies on this website. By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policy and for us to access our cookies on your device.
Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: Gun Violence Children TV))
HEADLINE: The Quiet Epidemic of Guns Killing Children
TEASER: Mass killings shock, but every day shootings are the top cause of death for U.S. kids
PUBLISHED AT: 5/26/2022 at 3:50PM
BYLINE: Veronica Balderas Iglesias
CONTRIBUTOR: Lynn Davis
DATELINE: Washington
VIDEOGRAPHER/VIDEO EDITOR: Veronica Balderas Iglesias
SCRIPT EDITORS: Detzel, MAS
VIDEO SOURCE (S):
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:17
VID APPROVED BY: MAS
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:
UPDATE: Radio Tracks for Reversioning Included
((INTRO))
[[The world watches closely when mass shootings like the one in Uvalde, Texas, claim innocent lives in the United States. Less visible is the rising rate of day-to-day gun deaths of children 14 and younger. Researchers say firearms are the No. 1 cause of death for U.S. children. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias has more.]]
((Mandatory cg: Skype))
((CG: Grandmother of Teen Gunshot Victim))
“My grandson took two shots. He got shot in his chest up close and personal, and he got shot in his head execution style.”
((Mandatory cg: Women’s Talk Ministry))
Malachi Jackson, gunned down in Washington, D.C. last month was only 15 years old. His grandmother said a suspect is in custody and a criminal investigation is ongoing.
((Mandatory cg: Skype))
((Grandmother of teen gunshot victim))
“It started with two children having a fight, you know, having some words with each other. In Washington, D.C., these kids have guns just like they have ice cream. / It shouldn’t be that easy for a child to get a gun.”
((NARRATOR))
For the sake of her safety, the grandmother asked to wear a facemask on camera.
((Mandatory cg: Women’s Talk Ministry))
Jackson is one of 500 teenagers killed this year with firearms, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which tracks gun deaths using public records. Some of these deaths are homicides; others are accidental.
[[RADIO INTRO: Mark Bryant is its Executive Director]]
((Mark Bryant, Gun Violence Archive))
“The teens that are 12 and up or 10 and up, 11 and up, that can be gang activity that can be all sorts of stuff. Children under 10, when they die by gun, they have found their father’s gun which is not properly stowed. They play with those guns, and they don’t understand there isn’t a reset button.”
((Mandatory cg: TBD))
((NARRATOR))
The mass shootings this month in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, have shocked the world. But day-to-day gun violence – one-off shootings like Jackson’s – is an epidemic, researchers say.
Firearms deaths among young people increased nearly 30 percent in 2020.
Gun violence kills more children per capita than car crashes, drug overdoses and even cancer, according to researchers from the University of Michigan.
[[RADIO INTRO: Marc Zimmerman is the Co-director of the University’s Institute For Firearm Injury Prevention]]
((Mandatory cg: Skype))
((Marc Zimmerman, University of Michigan Professor))
“Sometimes it’s accessibility to firearms that are not their own, and sometimes it’s bullying that occurs in school. Nearly 60% of all firearm deaths are actually suicides, and most of those happen in rural areas.”
((NARRATOR))
With the COVID-19 pandemic still around, mood disorders like anxiety and depression on the rise, and ready access to guns in many U.S. states, experts say it’s easy to see what’s driving the numbers.
[[RADIO INTRO: Psychologist Gregory Jantz ]]
((Gregory Jantz, Psychologist))
“Anxiety disorder is the most common diagnosis out there. Particularly when there’s substance use, substance used mixed in, we’re finding behaviors and a self-destruction and destruction of others at a level we have never seen.”
((Mandatory cg: Women’s Talk Ministry))
Malachi Jackson’s grandmother and his family are still grieving and want politicians to keep guns out of the hands of children.
((Mandatory cg: Skype))
((Grandmother of Teen Gunshot Victim))
“There’s dying in our streets every single day, two three kids a day! We are in outrage, we are sad, we are confused. We need harder laws!”
The National Rifle Association, which for years pushed looser gun laws, didn’t reply to our interview request.
The group’s annual convention starts Friday in Houston, Texas, just days after an 18-year-old with an assault rifle slaughtered 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary.
((Veronica Balderas Iglesias, for VOA News, Washington))
NewsML Media TopicsHuman Interest
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateMay 26, 2022 16:50 EDT
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English