Gun deaths were the leading killer of US children in 2020

According to new data, guns will overtake vehicle accidents as the primary cause of death for US adolescents and teenagers in 2020. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 4,300 young Americans died as a result of firearm-related injuries in 2020. While suicides added to the toll, data reveal that homicides account for the vast majority of gun-related deaths. Civilians in the United States own more than 390 million firearms.

According to the study, which was published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, the increase in gun-related fatalities among Americans aged one to 19 was part of a countrywide 33.4 percent increase in firearm murders. According to the report, homicides disproportionately affect young Americans. During the same time period, the rate of firearm suicides in the United States increased by 1.1 percent.
The total rate of gun fatalities among children and teens for all reasons – suicide, homicide, accidental, and undetermined – increased by 29.5 percent, more than double the rate of the general population. “We continue to fail to safeguard our children from an avoidable cause of mortality,” according to a study letter published in the journal on Wednesday.

Between 2019 and 2020, the rate of gun-related fatalities per 100,000 people increased for both men and women, as well as across ethnic categories, with black Americans experiencing the greatest rise.
Gun-related fatalities were previously second only to automobile accidents as the main cause of mortality among young Americans. Car deaths, on the other hand, have decreased over time, with roughly 3,900 Americans under the age of 19 dying in car collisions in 2020. Drug overdoses and poisonings increased 83.6 percent between 2019 and 2020, becoming the third-highest cause of mortality in that age range. Second research published earlier this month discovered that 954 young people died of overdoses in 2020, up from 492 in 2019.

Since the Covid-19 epidemic began in early 2020, gun violence in the United States has surged. “The causes for the increase are unclear,” according to the research letter. “It cannot be anticipated that firearm-related mortality will return to pre-pandemic levels in the future.” Separate research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in February, discovered that 7.5 million US people – just under 3% of the population – were first-time gun owners between January and April 2021, during the epidemic. As a result, 11 million individuals, including 5 million children, were exposed to home weapons.