The Children’s Defense Fund has issued a report entitled “Protect Children Not Guns.”According to the 2005 report, which draws on data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most recent nationwide figures available show that “2,867 children and teens died from gunfire in the United States in 2002 — one child about every three hours, nearly eight children every day, 55 children every week.”

Out of that total, 1,830 were homicide victims, 828 committed suicide, and 209 died accidentally or in undetermined circumstances. Furthermore, 1,639 were white, 1,112 were black, 581 were Latino, 64 were Asian or Pacific Islander, and 52 were American Indian or Alaska Native.

When one considers the fact that black people only comprise roughly 12 percent of the American population, it’s pretty shocking that the number of black kids murdered is only 527 fewer than white kids murdered. Just to give you an idea of how far out of whack this is, let’s do a little rough math: If the total number of child deaths related to gunfire was 2,867, and black folks are only 12 percent of the population, then if we multiply 2,867 by 12 percent we ought to get a rough idea of what a more proportional figure for what gun-related deaths in the black youth community ought to be. That figure is 344.04. This is not to say that 344 gun-related deaths among black children would have been acceptable, but it damned sure would have been better than 1,112, don’t you think? [more]