While walking home in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, one Democratic state representative exchanged gunfire with an armed man allegedly attempting to steal his wallet.
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Democratic state Reps. Marty Flynn and Ryan Bizzarro were walking home to their building in Harrisburg just before 11 p.m. when a man reportedly pointed a gun at them and demanded they hand over their wallets. Flynn, who is licensed to possess a firearm, drew his handgun and exchanged shots with the individual before both groups ran in different directions, according to a release from the House Democratic Caucus in Pennsylvania.
No one was injured during the incident. Flynn is a former prisoner guard and supervisor, and Bizzarro is a former victim-witness coordinator for county courts.
The shooting occurred just hours after the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence launched a provocative national public awareness campaign for a future where no child is killed by a parent’s firearm. The new initiative includes a report, titled “The Truth About Kids & Guns,” and a nationally televised public service announcement and digital advertisements featuring David Wheeler, whose son was killed in the 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and Missy Jenkins Smith, who was permanently paralyzed after being shot at her Kentucky high school in 1997. Each platform aims to help parents understand the risks of keeping a gun inside the home.
There have been 2,703 child and teenage firearm deaths since 2011, which means that, each day, seven kids are killed by a bullet, according to the report. Currently, 1.7 million children have access to an unlocked, loaded gun inside their home.
“These kids were shot in different ways by varying intents,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign. “But one thing is certain: Every one of them is a tragedy and should lead to public outcry about the continuous threat that gun violence poses to our nation’s children and teens.”
Each year, nearly 20,000 children and teenagers are injured or killed by firearms in the United States. Studies show that most youth gun deaths involve a gun from or inside a home, including school shootings, unintentional shootings, and suicides.
“I can’t help but wonder how different my family’s life would be now if there had been a different attitude toward the responsibility of keeping firearms secure in the home,” Wheeler said. “I don’t know who in their right mind can look at the number of innocent lives lost because a child found a parent’s or another adult’s gun and think, ‘Oh, that’s OK. That’s fine. I can live with that.’”
One of the ads features Wheeler’s image next to text that reads, “My son will be six years old forever.”
The Brady Campaign invested an initial $500,000 toward the initiative, which Gross said will continue until supporters achieve their vision of a future where no child is killed by a parent’s gun. The new multi-platform campaign coincides with America’s Safe Schools Week, which begins Sunday.
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