And what adults who’ve lost control need to do about it
Sometimes they get lucky, the many kids in Milwaukee who shoot people, and they sidestep homicide charges because their victims happen not to die.
Removing luck and counting up the number of child-shooters who either killed or just wounded a victim, the numbers are astounding. It’s only mid-September and so far at least 40 kids who are 17 or younger have been identified as suspects in homicides or non-fatal shootings during 2025, according to the Milwaukee Homicide Commission. Twelve of those, the only ones we usually hear about, were homicides.
The problem is even worse, much worse, than those numbers suggest. A lot of crime in Milwaukee — about a third of homicides, for instance — goes unsolved. There are a lot of killers and shooters walking around who haven’t been caught — including, presumably, kids.
There have been 104 homicides thus far in Milwaukee this year. The Homicide Commission’s information thus far includes 89 of those homicides (all but four of which involved guns) and 339 non-fatal shootings, a total of 428 victims in 2025. The Homicide Commission reports a total of only 238 suspects of all ages for those cases — or only 56%.
You can do the math but, bottom line, by the end of this year there could easily be 100 kids under the age of 18 in Milwaukee who have shot and maybe killed someone.
We occasionally hear about victims like 11-year-old middle-schooler Deon Sargent, who died after being shot this week at 6:45 pm at a bus stop near N. 68th Street and Silver Spring Drive. Police, who have not yet released the reports, have arrested a 13-year-old in the case, and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson has said the two children had a “tussle” over a gun.
It’s too early to guess what happened or where the gun came from in that particular case.
But there are — or will be by the end of the year — literally about 100 others, and we know where the guns usually have to come from: adults.
More gun laws are not the solution. We already have those. It’s already illegal in Wisconsin for a person under 18, with some exceptions mostly related to hunting, to possess a dangerous weapon, including a loaded or unloaded gun. It’s also illegal to leave or store a loaded firearm within reach or easy access to a child under the age of 14.
The problem isn’t just kids and adults who ignore the law; it’s adults who are either totally absent or criminal or willfully negligent or ignorant — or likely some combination of the four. By ignorant, I mean unaware the child has somehow acquired a gun that he (it’s almost always a “he”) carries around to rob or scare or kill someone.
By that time, it’s true, the adult has probably pretty much lost all control, which is more understandable than losing interest. The latter is unforgivable when you have kids. The former, fortunately, has a solution. Call the cops and tell them your gun is missing and they need to arrest your kid or your nephew or whomever it is you’re responsible for.
You can either call them or, eventually, they’ll call you.
Mike Nichols is the President of the Badger Institute.
Any use or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written permission. To request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute Marketing Director Matt Erdman at matt@badgerinstitute.org.
