Rise in Gun Deaths Among US Children and Teens

The rising rates of gun-related deaths among children in almost all states between 2018 and 2022 are a cause for concern, according to a recent report. The study shows that guns have become the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in as many as 25 states. Only six states recorded stable or declining child death rates during this period. 
 
In an era where school shootings continue to make news headlines, these findings shed light on the alarming increase in the number of children succumbing to injuries and violence from firearms since 2018. This upward trend is not limited to firearm-related incidents alone; overall injury-caused deaths have also seen an uptick across several states. 
 
Eugenio Weigend Vargas led the team responsible for this research. He works at the University of Michigan's Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention as a postdoctoral research fellow. His team based their findings on data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this year. 
 
According to CDC data, mortality amongst children and adolescents aged between one and nineteen years increased by nearly 19% from 2018-2022, more than double compared with the increase observed between 2013-2017. A significant driver behind these numbers was a near-23% rise in injury-related deaths due mainly to firearms misuse and overdoses. 
 
Following these grim statistics, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared firearm violence a "public health crisis" back in July while highlighting its increasing impact on child mortalities. 
 
Further analysis into the CDC's figures reveals that ninety percent of American States witnessed increased instances of fatal injuries among their young population within four years (from 2018 to 2022). By last year, gun-linked fatalities had surpassed motor vehicle accidents as primary causes behind most deaths involving Americans aged one through nineteen years old—making guns top killers amongst kids across half America’s fifty states! 
 
While there has been a rise in deaths among children under ten, it is the older age group of 10–19 that has seen the majority increase in injury-related fatalities. Boys were found to be almost twice as likely to die as girls (35.2 deaths vs. 19.3 per 100,000, respectively), especially from gun-related incidents, with boys making up nearly 86% of these victims. 
 
Rhode Island had the lowest rate of such deaths between 2018 and 2022, showing a drop by one-fifth, while Michigan, Delaware, South Dakota, Idaho, and New Hampshire experienced either stable or slightly declining rates. North Dakota and Wyoming showed alarming increases—about a 65 percent rise in child mortalities over just four years! Vermont, North Carolina, and Hawaii also recorded significant surges with around fifty percent, forty-four percent, and forty percent increases, respectively. 
 
Published on September 3 in the JAMA Pediatrics journal, this study underscores ongoing firearm-associated mortality amongst American youth as an urgent issue demanding immediate attention across all states, irrespective of geographical location. 
 
Vargas emphasized: "These injuries are preventable...by identifying high priority areas; we can better tailor evidence-based strategies and solutions policies to save lives." His statement calls for increased efforts towards keeping children away from firearms, which have now become more crucial than ever considering rising rates of gun-related child mortality across America.