Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) appeared extra involved about unborn embryos and fetuses than residing youngsters on Wednesday as he downplayed gun violence within the wake of a mass capturing that left six individuals useless at a Tennessee college.
“There’s no such factor as gun violence. There’s solely human violence. It’s intellectually unsound to state in any other case,” he stated throughout a Home Oversight Committee listening to. “And the primary reason for dying for youngsters in America stays abortion.”
Many People, together with Democratic politicians, have renewed their requires higher gun management legal guidelines within the wake of Monday’s capturing, however face resistance from Republicans, a lot of whom obtain main monetary backing from the gun foyer.
Higgins was criticizing Democrats for repeatedly mentioning the statistic that gun violence is the main reason for dying for youngsters within the U.S.
That statistic is true, nonetheless. In 2020, firearms surpassed automobile crashes because the primary reason for dying for youngsters and younger adults ages 1-18.
Firearms accounted for practically 19% of youngsters’s deaths in 2021, based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention WONDER database. In no different equally massive or rich nation are firearm deaths amongst even the highest 4 causes of dying for youngsters, based on an evaluation by the Kaiser Household Basis.
Motorcar accidents and most cancers are the 2 most typical causes of dying for individuals ages 1-18 in all different comparable nations, KFF discovered. The U.S. has by far the laxest gun legal guidelines and the best variety of civilian-owned firearms of its peer nations.
This yr alone, there have been 130 mass shootings within the U.S., based on the Gun Violence Archive.
Higgins cited CDC knowledge from 2020 to say that there have been greater than 620,000 authorized abortions carried out that yr, evaluating that quantity to the variety of youngsters ― 4,357 ― killed by weapons.
The overwhelming majority of abortion procedures happen through the first trimester of being pregnant (earlier than or at 13 weeks of gestation for an embryo or a fetus). Fetal viability, outlined as the purpose at which a fetus’ survival could also be potential outdoors the womb, is reported to be at roughly 23 to 24 weeks of gestation within the U.S.
Social media customers referred to as out the failings in Higgins’ “human violence” argument:
Different commenters noticed that Higgins’ self-proclaimed “pro-life” stance didn’t appear to use to precise residing youngsters:
Higgins is staunchly anti-abortion and pro-Second Modification, and argues on his Home webpage that life “unquestionably begins at conception.”
He’s beforehand made headlines for different inflammatory remarks. In 2020, he threatened to shoot any armed demonstrators forward of a Black Lives Matter rally, though persons are allowed to overtly carry firearms in Louisiana. And in September, he was criticized as racist and misogynistic after he shouted at and made offensive feedback to a Black local weather knowledgeable testifying to Congress.
Three 9-year-olds and three adults had been killed at The Covenant College in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday after a 28-year-old shooter, who police say legally bought the 2 assault-style rifles and pistol they had been wielding, opened hearth.