You Are More Likely to Be Killed by a Toddler Than a Terrorist

Babble.com

We take off our shoes in order to get cleared to fly. We freak out if we see a deserted box or package on the street. And we give sideways glances to adults that look or act suspicious. But as it turns out, it's not terrorists we should be fearing: it's toddlers.

The website Opposing Views put together a fascinating list of recent fatalities at the hands of American tots, saying, "you might be shocked to know that preschoolers with guns have taken more lives so far this year than the single U.S. terrorist attack, which claimed four lives in Boston."

We all know that there is a verbal and legal battle over guns happening in the United States. The amount of senseless deaths that occurred from fatal gunshots is staggering, but it's not just psychos with AK-47s or career criminals that end lives. Children are curious and if they are able to get their hands on a gun, too many times they will accidentally set it off.

Related: The 10 biggest secrets parents hide from their kids

Here is a list that Opposing Views put together:

"Jan. 10: 6-year-old playmate shoots and kills 4-year-old Trinity Ross, Kansas City, Kan.

Feb. 11: 4-year-old Joshua Johnson shoots and kills himself, Memphis, Tenn.

Feb. 24: 4-year-old Jaiden Pratt dies after shooting himself in the stomach while his father sleeps, Houston.

March 30: 4-year-old Rahquel Carr shot and killed either by 6-year-old brother or another young playmate, Miami.

April 6: Josephine Fanning, 48, shot and killed by 4-year-old boy at a barbecue, Wilson County, Tenn.

April 8: 4-year-old shoots and kills 6-year-old friend Brandon Holt, Toms River, N.J.

April 9: 3-year-old is killed after he finds a pink gun that he thinks is a toy, Greenville, S.C.

April 30: 2-year-old Caroline Sparks killed by her 5-year-old brother with his Cricket "My First Rifle" marketed to kids, Cumberland County, Ky.

May 1: 3-year-old Darrien Nez shoots himself in the face and dies after finding his grandmother's gun, Yuma, Ariz.

May 7: 3-year-old Jadarrius Speights fatally shoots himself with his uncle's gun, Tampa, Fla.

June 7: 4-year-old fatally shoots his father, Green Beret Justin Thomas, Prescott Valley, Ariz."

Scary, no?

Our country spends billions of dollars on national security. The Nation says, "this country has spent a jaw-dropping $791 billion on 'homeland security' since 9/11," to keep our country and the citizens safe. But one must wonder, when looking at the numbers, why more isn't done by our government to protect our citizens in their own homes with better gun laws and rules.

Each year children are killed by gun violence. According to the FBI, 561 children were killed in America from gun shot wounds between the years of 2006 to 2010. "This happens on way too regular a basis and it affects families and communities - not at once, so we don't see it and we don't understand it as part of our national experience," said Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research.

These deaths could have been avoided had the parents been better educated on how to keep their guns from their children, or perhaps not have had the guns in the first place.

Do you think more should be done to keep Americans killing Americans that pouring money into defense from terrorist threats?

-By Sunny Chanel