Resolution

Resolution to Protect Children from Gun Violence in the United States

Adopted by the Board of Directors June 1, 2000 | Hasbrouk Heights, NJ Resolution 2000-001

As Humanists, we view providing maximum safety for all, especially children and others less able to protect themselves, as requisite to a civilized society. We watch with sadness as the protection of guns continues to be placed before the protection of lives, with the result that the United States lags lamentably behind other nations in the preventing the death of children from gunfire.

WHEREAS one child dies from gunfire every two hours in the United States, some 80,000 in the last two decades alone—far more than the total number of American soldiers killed in battle in the entire Vietnam war; and

WHEREAS many children killed in shootings would be alive today if Child Firearm Access Protection laws were in effect in every state, those deaths being down by 23% in states with such laws;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION regards this situation as needless and shameful and calls upon all states which have not yet adopted Child Firearm Access Protection laws to do so within their current Legislative sessions; and

WHEREAS the United States, the world’s leading spender for military force in the name of protection, has failed to protect its own children from preventable gun violence;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION calls upon the Congress and the president of the United States, and the leaders of all political parties, to make protecting children from gun violence a top priority of our national agenda.

The American Humanist Association

The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of Humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of Humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.

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