For the first time, guns are the leading cause of death for US children and adolescents in 2020

Firearms have become the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in 2020, killing more people aged 1 to 19 in the US than motor vehicle accidents, drug overdoses or cancer.

More than 4,300 people died from gun-related injuries that year – a 29% increase from 2019 – according to a research letter published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The letter analyzes decades mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The letter’s co-author, Jason Goldstick, is an associate professor of research at the University of Michigan.

Goldstick said homicides, not suicides, accounted for the majority of gun deaths among children and adolescents in 2020. Firearm homicides, which disproportionately affecting young Americansgrew 33% from 2019 to 2020.

The letter reads, “We continue to fail to protect our youth from a preventable cause of death.”

The number of car-related deaths – the leading cause of death among children and adolescents – has fallen dramatically in the US over the past 20 years, likely due to improvements in vehicle safety. pine. About 3,900 people aged 1 to 19 years old will die in car crashes in 2020.

“You can reduce injury rates without banning guns, just like people reducing motor vehicle crash rates without banning cars,” says Goldstick. The letter did not list specific policy solutions or funding priorities that would best address the issue.

Most children killed by guns in 2020 are 14 or older, Goldstick said, even though the legal age to buy a gun is 18.

“Children don’t buy guns, but that doesn’t mean children are out of reach,” he said.

One learn published in February showed that gun ownership increased during the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, more than 5 million children under the age of 18 were newly exposed to firearms in their households between January 2019 and April 2021.

One Research in 2021, meanwhile, also reported an increase in arms acquisitions after the pandemic began; that correlates with higher rates of fatal and nonfatal gun injuries than both children and them. The authors suggest that school closures and lack of adult supervision may play a role in this trend.

Goldstick also emphasized that CDC mortality data does not capture the full scale of gun violence among children and adolescents.

Goldstick said, “For every fatal gun casualty, there are a lot of fat-free gun injuries,” There’s no really great data on fat-free shootings in the US.

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here