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Guns and Child Deaths in America
The latest data on firearms and childhood homicides and suicides as yet another child is shot dead
A man with an AR-style assault rifle allegedly shot and killed several of his neighbors in a small Texas town Saturday after they’d asked him to stop shooting the gun in his yard, due to the noise. At least one child, age 8, is among the dead. Last month, three children were among those killed in a mass shooting at a Nashville school. The tragedies are part of an increase in U.S. kids being killed by guns, often at home or at school.
Almost exactly one year ago, I reported on two new studies about guns and rising child deaths in the United States, including reactions from researchers, pediatricians and other doctors explaining what’s behind what they see as a child health crisis and what can be done.
Today, as yet another child is shot dead, I’m reporting on three recent studies that offer additional statistics on the topic, all presented as concisely as possible and without adjectives, analysis or opinions, so readers can make what they will of the findings.
First, from last year:
- In the journal Pediatrics, scientists reported that guns now kill more U.S. children than car crashes, cancer, drugs or any other single cause.
- The other study, done separately and published in the journal Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, found U.S. gun deaths among children had risen 83% in the past decade.
Now, the three new studies:
“Suicide has become the leading cause of death among teens ages 13 to 14,” with the rate doubling between 2008 and 2018 in the United States, researchers report in the Annals of Pediatrics and Child Health. Suicide is the second leading cause of premature death among those ages 10 to 24, the analysis found.
“Our data show that non-metropolitan areas have higher rates of teen suicide, regardless of method, and rural areas have higher rates due to firearms,” said study co-author Charles Hennekens, MD, a researcher at Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine.
Some may think guns and gun violence are a bigger problem in big cities than elsewhere. But the…
