Baby on Board

A neighborhood car that I walk past every day sports two decals on its rear window. One states “BABY ON BOARD” with the outline of an AR-15. The other, in flowery script, says “Jesus Loves You. Hallelujah.” Maybe Obama was on the right track when he mentioned some Americans “clinging to their guns and religion.”

Are the two incompatible? The Constitution tells we can own as many guns as we want. In fact, there are more firearms than there are Americans. 360 million guns are in US households. Religion tells us “Thou shalt not kill.” This sixth commandment is on every Louisiana schoolroom wall this year.

And yet unrestricted access to firearms in the US allows five times as many American kids under age 18 to be killed with firearms than same age European kids. Eliminating suicide deaths, that ratio is 22 / 1. In fact, nearly two times as many American kids die from gunshots than all ages of Europeans. American high schoolers Kyle and Tiffany are 22 times more likely to be gunned down than Hans and Gretchen in a German school.

The NRA tells us, “If guns are controlled (like they are in Europe and in some US states), only bad guys will have guns.” California has some of the most restrictive gun laws while Texas is very much laissez-faire gun-wise. Despite having 50% more people, California has less than half of Texas’s juvenile gun deaths. In fact, Texas alone has nearly twice the number of juvenile gun deaths as Europe with one tenth the number of people.

I’m not sure whether that neighborhood car’s “BABY ON BOARD” refers to an actual baby (protected by an on-board AR-15) or if the BABY is the AR-15 itself (which is kind of perverse). An American baby is 22 times more likely to be gunned down than its European cousin. Jesus loves you. Hallelujah. I doubt that Jesus is in favor of the device that can kill that child.

By Ed Dufton