Children Under Fire: An American Crisis

by Fran Withrow 06.2021

Tyshaun, age nine, is good friends with Ava, age eight. Tyshaun lives just outside of Washington, D.C., while Ava lives in South Carolina. They connect via video often, even though their backgrounds are different, because they share one critical commonality: they both live with the aftermath of gun violence.

Tyshaun revered his dad, who was gunned down in the neighborhood while Tyshaun was in school. Ava’s best friend Jacob was shot to death by a teenager while she and her classmates played on their school playground. 

Both children have been deeply, irrevocably scarred by what they experienced. Tyshaun lashes out at school, and school authorities struggle to help him maintain self-control. Ava became so terrified at school that she suffers periodic episodes of rage, and must now be homeschooled and treated with anti-anxiety medications. The story of Ava and Tyshaun in  “Children Under Fire: An American Crisis,” exemplifies how the American epidemic of gun violence affects our youngest citizens.

John Woodrow Cox has thoughtfully explored just how debilitating gun violence is to children around the country, and his book is a sobering read. Cox, a Washington Post reporter, spent years discovering that children do not need to be victims of violence themselves to be devastated by the experience. The aftermath can be severe: children who cannot tolerate loud and unexpected noises; children afraid to play outside; children who write notes to their families during lockdowns, expecting to die.

It is a misconception to think that as long as children are not physically hurt, an encounter with a shooter will not have long-term consequences. We think of children as resilient and able to adjust to life’s traumas. Yet while children can adapt after dealing with a crisis, it’s not always easy. In addition, not every child exposed to violence gets the counseling they need. Even with therapy, exposure to violence wreaks havoc on children’s emotional and social lives. 

While shootings themselves are terrifying, lockdowns and active shooter drills can also traumatize and frighten children. And though schools are still inherently safe places to be, the nationwide perception that they are unsafe is overwhelming. I was heartsick to read about one school that performed a practice drill, but told everyone a real shooter was on site. This drill left children crying, having asthma attacks, and texting their families goodbye.

Cox suggests three ways to combat the rampant epidemic of gun violence in our country. His first suggestion is an age-old one: universal background checks for gun owners. Not only would this screen people who buy a gun; it would also make those owners less likely to engage in gun-trafficking because the gun could be traced back to them. Secondly, we must educate gun owners about how vital it is for firearms to be inaccessible to children. And thirdly, additional research is needed to discover what other tools might protect children from the devastation of gun violence.

Until these things happen, this American crisis will continue unabated. 

And there will be more stories like those of Ava and Tyshaun.