The U.S. is uniquely terrible at protecting children from gun violence

This week's massacre in Uvalde, Texas, was yet another grim reminder that in the U.S., where civilians own nearly 400 million firearms, children are more likely to die from gun violence than in any other high-income country.

The killing of 19 fourth-graders and two adults at Robb Elementary School has unleashed an outpouring of grief and sadness across the nation. It has also, once again, spurred many to ask why the United States has failed to make any significant changes to its gun laws following the horrendous mass shootings that now happen with regularity.

Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School: All are names seared into the nation's memory for the terrible violence that took the lives of students there.

But the dangers young people face from firearms in America go well beyond school shootings, which account for only