Guns kill more kids than cars

Firearms killed more children and adolescents in the US in 2020 than car accidents, which had long been the leading cause of death for youngsters, a Washington Post analysis has found.

The change was caused by a 30% increase in gun deaths for people 19 and younger in 2020. Gun deaths continued to outpace car deaths for that age group in 2021, the Post found, as the rate of gun killings increased an additional 8%.

The analysis reviewed US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) death records for Americans aged 1 to 19 from 2011 through to October 2021.

A research letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) last week said firearms had become the leading cause of death for those ages in 2020, passing motor vehicle deaths.

The Post found deep racial disparities within the overall pattern. Black youths were the only group for whom guns were deadlier than cars. For whites, Hispanics and Native Americans, cars still kill many more youngsters than guns do.

Black youths, who have long suffered the highest gun death rates among all racial and ethnic groups in the US, experienced a 39% jump – the largest increase – in 2020. The rate increased an additional 13% in the first 10 months of 2021, the latest period for which CDC death records are available.

Gun deaths also increased 37% for Hispanic youths in 2020, and 17% for whites.

– Washington Post