Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the US in 2020

Shootings cause more deaths in the United States between 1 and 19-year-olds than in car crashes, drug overdoses or cancer.

Specifically, in 2020, more than 4,300 deaths from injuries related to firearms, up 29% from 2019, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study analyzed decades of mortality data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study’s co-author, Jason Goldstick, an associate professor of research at the University of Michigan, said homicides, rather than suicides, account for the majority of cases. gun death in children and adolescents in 2020. Cases gun The impact on young people in the US increased by 33% from 2019 to 2020.

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

Mr. Goldstick confirmed that most children killed by guns in 2020 are 14 years or older, even though the legal age to buy a gun is 18.

Glock’s semi-automatic pistols are for sale in El Cajon, California, April 26, 2021. (Photo: Bloomberg)

“Kids don’t buy guns, but that doesn’t mean kids can’t have access to guns“, he said.

A study published in February found that gun ownership increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, more than 5 million children under the age of 18 were exposed to firearms in their homes between January 2019 and April 2021.

Meanwhile, a study in 2021 also reported an increase in firearm acquisition after the pandemic began, and this correlates with the rate of fatal gun wounds among both children. small. The authors suggest that school closures due to the epidemic and lack of adult supervision may play a role in this trend.

Goldstick also emphasized that the above mortality data from the CDC is not entirely due to gun violence in children and adolescents: “For every firearm casualty, there is a large number of lethal weapon injuries.”

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