4,368 children and adolescents ages 19 and under died from gunshots in 2020. According to data revealed by the CDC, car accidents rose to a second place
Firearms have become the leading cause of death among minors in the US
Firearms have overtaken automobile accidents as the leading cause of death among U.S. children with official data showing a sharp rise in gun murders like the Texas school massacre that claimed the lives of 19 children.
Overall 4,368 children and adolescents up to 19 years of age died from gunshots in 2020; a rate of 5.4 per 100,0000, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Nearly two-thirds of the deaths were homicides.
By comparison, there were 4,036 vehicle-related deaths; previously the leading cause of death in that age group.
Cars leave the city after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a military operation in eastern Ukraine, in kyiv, Ukraine. February 24, 2022. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
The gap has been closing since traffic safety measures have been improved in recent decades while deaths from weapons they were growing.
The trend lines crossed in 2020, the latest year for which data is available; a finding found in a letter published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
The authors of the letter warned that new data were consistent with other evidence that gun violence increased during the covid pandemic for reasons that are not yet fully clear. They cautioned, however, that “it cannot be assumed that it will revert to pre-pandemic levels.”
Updated CDC data shows that almost 30% of the deaths were suicides, only 3% were unintentional deaths and 2% correspond to unexplained attempts.
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A small number were categorized as “legal intervention” or self-defense.
The deaths disproportionately impacted black children and adolescents who they were four times higher than those of white children for whom vehicles remain their greatest threat.
The second most affected group was the Native Americans. Men are six times more likely than women to die.
As far as regions are concerned, the capital of the United States, Washington, has the highest rate followed by Louisiana and Alaska.
Deaths disproportionately impacted black children and adolescents four times higher than those of white children
The data serve to highlight that mass shootings, like the one Tuesday at a Texas school, are only a small fraction of the total number of children killed by firearms.
“Since the 1960s, continued efforts have been directed at preventing motor vehicle fatalities,” wrote the authors of another recent letter published in NEJM, contrasting the situation with firearms whose regulations, instead, , you’ve been toned down.
Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the influential Science magazine, published an editorial Thursday calling for more research the impact of weapons on public health in order to advance policy changes.
“Scientists should not stand by and watch others fight this,” he wrote .
“Further research into the impact of gun ownership on public health will provide more evidence of its deadly consequences,” he added, arguing that severe mental illness, often considered the cause of mass shootings, were prevalent at similar levels in other countries that do not suffer frequent it’s mass shootings.
(With information from AFP)