Photo: DANIEL RAMALHO/AFP/Getty Images
A new analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that Gun-related deaths of children in the United States reached a distressing peak in 2021.
Total, firearms claimed 4,752 young lives and surpassed the record total seen during the first year of the pandemic. This indicates that the epidemic of gun violence in the United States has worsened, according to experts.
More than 80% of firearm deaths were among men 19 years of age or younger. Black males were more likely to die by homicide, while white youths were more likely to commit suicide with weapons.
“This is, without a doubt, one of our major public health crises in this country. The most likely reason his son would die in this country is at the hands of a firearm. That’s not acceptable,” said Dr. Chethan Sathya, a pediatric trauma surgeon at Northwell Health in New York and lead author of the study, which was published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
This sad reality marks the second year in a row that firearm-related injuries have established themselves as the leading cause of death among children and adolescents, surpassing motor vehicles, drug overdoses, and cancer.
There are no signs that this trend is slowing down, Sathya said.
Nearly two-thirds of deaths in 2021 were homicides, though unintentional shootings have killed many children. No matter how young the victims, pediatric gun-related deaths have left their mark in nearly every corner of the US.
In recent months, the cases of deaths of children by unintentional firearms have increased.
A few months ago, a 3-year-old boy in Florida died after shooting himself with a gun. In California, a 3-year-old boy killed his 1-year-old sister with a gun. A 2-year-old boy in Michigan died after finding an “unsecured firearm.” Last week, a 9-year-old boy fatally shot a 6-year-old boy in Florida. This is just to mention a few cases.
So far this year, there have been at least 229 unintentional shootings by children in the US. These events have left a total of 81 deaths and 156 injuries, according to data analyzed by the advocacy group Everytown for Gun.
From 2018 to 2021, there was a nearly 42% increase in the rate of children killed by firearms, according to the analysis. While 2021, with more than 4,700 child firearm-related deaths, reflects a nearly 9% increase in the rate compared to 2020.
The researchers expected to see a decline in gun-related deaths among children in 2021, following its sharp rise in 2020, which was believed to be due to pandemic-induced lockdowns and children confined to their homes.
Those projections, however, did not come to pass.
Of those 2021 deaths, 64.3% were homicides, 29.9% were suicides, and 3.5% resulted from unintentional injuriesaccording to the analysis.
The burden of firearm homicides among children has disproportionately affected communities of color.
African-American children accounted for 67.3% of firearm-related homicideswith the death rate nearly doubling since 2020. White children accounted for 78.4% of firearm-related suicides.
When examining firearm-related deaths among children geographically, southern states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina, and Montana had a higher burden of deaths, although researchers are beginning to see rising rates in the Midwest, according to the analysis.
Older adolescents, ages 15 to 19, accounted for 82.6% of firearm-related deaths in 2021.
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