Soft Targets: On Guns in America and the Kids Caught Crossfire

Starred Review from Publishers Weekly. “This urgent work infuses hope and humanity into divisive politics without downplaying the devastating costs of gun violence.” Starred Review from Booklist. “Deftly balancing facts and emotions, Kerwin bears illuminating haunting witness.” A work of comics journalism around the stories of four kids who have died in the U.S. due to gun violence or gun negligence—the leading cause of death for minors since 2020, and dispelling myths of the history of gun culture in the U.S. Who have we lost? How did we get here? Why do gun-lovers love their guns? These are the questions that people across America ask every time another news story broadcasts a death from gun violence. With compassionate, thoughtful journalism, this graphic novel explores the lives of four kids and teenagers and the guns that ended their lives: from incidents of gang violence to school shootings to suicide. These tragedies are presented alongside the history of gun culture and legislation, discussing the NRA, the legal system, and the racial imbalances in American gun violence.