Up In Arms: Kids & Guns

On average, 17,102 children and teens are shot each year. Of that number, 2,737 die.

Firearm injuries are the third leading cause of death among children in the United States, and the number of children killed by guns in this country increased by 30 percent from 2013 to 2016.

But, why?

On September 6, 2018, American Public Square and KCUR 89.3 presented “Up In Arms: Kids & Guns,”where panelists from both sides of the aisle explored the causes of gun-related deaths among children and teens, discussed the dramatic increase in recent years, talked about policy and education programs around firearms, and more.

Panelists

Kevin L. Jamison, frequently speaks on law, personal security, and firearms related issues. He has helped teach the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance (WMSA) personal protection course since its inception, primarily the legal instruction. He taught undergraduate courses in criminal law, law and society, and law and terrorism at Avila College (now Avila University). Kevin moderated the Missouri Bar’s class on Immigration law in June, 2001. Kevin has presented firearms Continuing Legal Education classes for the Missouri Bar Association and the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Kevin has written a number of articles on various legal topics. His article, “Concealed Weapons and the Travelers’ Defense” was published in the March-April, 2000 Journal of the Missouri Bar. He wrote the WMSA “Stay Out of Jail Card” summarizing weapons and self-defense law. Kevin created the WMSA video “Missouri Weapons and Self-Defense Law”. He is the author of Missouri Weapons and Self-Defense Law. Kevin contributed a chapter, “Bowie Knife Law”, to Bowie Knives and Bayonets of the Ben Palmer Collection. A Special Forces (“Green Beret”) veteran, he reviews books on unconventional warfare, terrorism, prisoner of war, and third world affairs for the Army’s Military Review magazine. Kevin has created a DVD titled “Missouri Concealed Weapons and Self-Defense Law”. He has a regular column in Concealed Carry Magazine titled “It Doesn’t Have to Make Sense, It’s Just the Law”.

Kevin is a member of the Missouri Bar Association, the Clay County Bar Association, the Special Forces Association, the National Rifle Association, the Second Amendment Foundation, Western Missouri Shooters Alliance, and Missourians for Personal Safety.

Kevin helped to found the Western Missouri Shooters Alliance in 1989 and has been active on the Board of Directors since that time. He was Vice-President for one year, President for three years, Secretary for two years, and is currently Press Officer. He was a founder and the first chairman of the Missouri Legislative Issues Council (Now Missourians for Personal Safety) which has led the fight for a License To Carry law in Missouri since 1991.

Karen Randolph Rogers is the Deputy Chapter Lead and Statewide Legislative Lead for the Missouri chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Like the five million Moms Demand Action supporters nationwide, Ms. Rogers is a volunteer dedicated to working for responsible gun safety and gun violence prevention laws at the local, state, and federal level. Ms. Rogers is also a trained presenter in the Moms Demand Action gun safety program, Be SMART, which educates adults on responsible gun storage practices to protect children from the preventable tragedies of gun suicide and unintentional shootings.

Ms. Rogers is an attorney and primarily practiced in the areas of education and civil rights law for 18 years before dedicating herself as a full-time Moms Demand Action volunteer in December 2017. She received her law degree from the University of Virginia, where she served as Articles Review Editor for the Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law. She also graduated summa cum laude from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in political science. She resides in Kansas City with her husband and two children, who inspire her to work for the safety of all kids.

Dr. Shayla Sullivant completed undergraduate training at Creighton University and medical school at the University of Kansas, where she also completed a residency in adult psychiatry and fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry. Since 2010 she has been on staff at Children’s Mercy Kansas City seeing patients in clinic and also providing coverage for the consultation liaison service.

Areas of interest in clinical practice include suicide prevention, eating disorders and integrated care. Dr. Sullivant is co-leader of the Self-directed Violence group at CMH, leading suicide prevention efforts at the hospital. Research interests include suicide screening and means restriction. Dr. Sullivant serves on the board of the Body Balance Coalition and has served as President of the KC Regional American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).

Robert VerBruggen is a deputy managing editor at National Review and has covered Second Amendment and gun-policy issues for more than a decade. He grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in 2006, and has held positions at The American Conservative, RealClearPolicy, The Washington Times, and The National Interest.

Read articles on gun policy written by VerBruggen:

“Less Gun Violence without New Gun Laws”

“How Gun Accidents Happen”

“How Common Are Child Gun Accidents?”

Steve Kraske is host of “Up to Date,” a daily public-affairs radio program on KCUR, 89.3. He teaches journalism at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. And Kraske also has been a fellow at the Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas.

He is a member of The Kansas City Star’s editorial board. He has worked at The Star since 1986 — first as a police reporter, then as a Statehouse reporter in both Missouri and Kansas. He was named the newspaper’s chief political correspondent and columnist in the mid-1990s.

Kraske has covered 11 national political conventions, including back-to-back gatherings in 2016 in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

He is a journalism graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a John S. Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University.

Kraske has won numerous awards for his print and broadcast work. He lives in Westwood with his wife, Kady McMaster, a former Star reporter and editor who now works in marketing and communications at UMKC. The couple has two college-age sons.