Who dies in greater numbers from firearms, police in the line of duty or preschoolers?

The answer — contained in a searing new report by the Children's Defense Fund — is surprising and disturbing. In 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, guns killed 69 preschoolers, compared with 53 law enforcement officers.

That's just one of the alarming facts in the Washington-based child advocacy group's "Protect Children, Not Guns" report. Among the others:

• Since 1979, gun violence has taken the lives of 104,419 children and teens.

• A black male has a one-in-72 chance of being killed by a firearm before age 30; a while male has a one-in-344 chance.

• While black children are more likely to be victims of firearm homicides, whites are more likely to use a gun to commit suicide. Eight times as many white kids committed suicide by gun as blacks.

The danger posed by guns to America's youth is on the rise. In 2005, 3,006 children and teens died from firearms, compared with 2,825 in 2004. That's the first increase in gun deaths among children since 1994 and since the longstanding assault weapons ban expired in 2004.

The children lost to guns in 2005 would fill 120 public school classrooms. Despite the bloodshed, the issue of gun safety has not become a focal point in the 2008 presidential race. And hardly anyone running for office in Georgia — where it becomes legal next month for permit-holders to carry firearms in restaurants and on MARTA — mentions guns except to eagerly note that they own them.

The silence speaks to the sway of a gun lobby that fights any regulation, even modest laws designed to keep weapons away from children. And that silence is deadly, contributing to the ease with which guns are finding their way into the hands of kids and teens, with fatal consequences.

"Imagine a tragedy like the Virginia Tech shooting occurring every four days, or a Northern Illinois shooting happening every 15 hours," said Children's Defense Fund president and founder Marian Wright Edelman. Last year's Virginia Tech massacre left 32 people dead, while five students died when a gunman opened fire at Northern Illinois University in February.

Every day, gun violence claims the lives of eight young people in this country. "It is time to stop this senseless dying among children and teens," says Edelman. "Our children will be less vulnerable and our communities safer if guns are less readily available. It's simply time to reject this culture of violence."

Opponents of gun laws argue that it's America's culture of violence that necessitates the need for unfettered access to firearms. They argue that widespread gun ownership and quick access to firearms keeps communities safe and violence at bay.

If that's true, why does the United States lead the developed world in gun deaths? Why do more 10- to 19-year-olds in America die from gunshot wounds than any other cause except car accidents?

If guns equal safety, shouldn't the U.S. have fewer casualties and injuries, since our society is so well-armed? That's a calculus problem that the gun lobby refuses to tackle, because it fears the answer: More guns on the streets doesn't lead to greater safety. It leads only to more gun violence.

A 2002 study on firearm deaths by the Harvard School of Public Health showed that children ages 5 to 14 died at higher rates in states with more guns. The study found that children in the five states with the highest levels of gun ownership — Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and West Virginia — were 16 times more likely to die from unintentional firearm injury, seven times more likely to die from firearm suicide and three times more likely to die from firearm homicide than children in the five states with the lowest levels of ownership, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Delaware.

Consider, too, that while 11,344 Americans were murdered with a firearm in 2004, Australia suffered only 56 gun homicides and England and Wales had 73.

No one is suggesting that America disarm. But reasonable restraints that balance the rights of gun owners with the safety of the public are both constitutional and wise.

The Children's Defense Fund offers a common-sense list of recommendations, including closing the gun-show loophole that allows unlicensed dealers to sell weapons without background checks and cracking down on illegal sales.

Just this week, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence reported that Georgia gun stores supplied more guns that were later recovered in crimes in other places than any other state. Using federal data, the Brady Center said 2,631 crime guns recovered in other states were traced to Georgia stores.

The Children's Defense Fund also urges those with children to remove guns from their homes. Research has shown that guns in the home greatly raise the risk of a child dying by homicide or suicide. Adolescent suicide is often driven by impulse, such as a romantic rejection or an altercation at school that makes the whole world look foreboding.

With 60 percent of suicides involving guns, a pistol within easy reach can turn a teenager's natural impulsivity into immutable tragedy.

At the release of the Children's Defense Fund's gun report, Douglas H. Palmer, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and mayor of Trenton, N.J., spoke with an urgency that should be shared by all elected officials, including those here in Georgia, where the rate of gun deaths exceeds the national average.

"It is a national crisis that a child or teen is killed by guns every three hours somewhere in America," Palmer said. "We must support reasonable restrictions on guns to limit the number of illegal guns in our communities and to make certain they don't fall into the wrong hands. Our cities — and our children — cannot wait any longer."

— Maureen Downey, for the editorial board

CHILDREN'S AND TEENS' GUN DEATHS

Of the 3,006 children and teens who died from gunfire in the United States in 2005:

• 1,972 were homicide victims

• 822 committed suicide

• 212 died in accidental or undetermined circumstances

• 2,654 were boys

• 352 were girls

• 404 were under the age of 15

• 131 were under the age of 10

• 69 were under the age of 5

• 1,624 were white

• 1,271 were black

• 614 were Latino*

• 60 were Asian or Pacific Islander

• 51 were American Indian or Alaskan Native

*Persons of Hispanic/Latino origin can be of any race; these 614 deaths are included in the four race categories

Source: Children's Defense Fund