The number of children and teens killed by gunfire is up 50 percent from 2019 to 2021, leading nearly half of American parents to fear a bullet will kill their offspring, says Pew Research Center.
In those two years, the number of gunshot wound deaths among children grew from 1,732 to 2,590 — the highest number since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began counting deaths in 1999.
The Peacock study follows a spate of school shootings, including a violent attack on a small, private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, that killed three adults and three nine-year-old students on March 27.
According to The Washington Post, 2022 was the most violent year in schools in decades, with 46 shootings.
In addition to gunshot deaths, 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, also saw 11,000 emergency room visits by children with gun injuries, another increase from recent years.
Child gunshot deaths grew from 1,732 to 2,590 — the highest number since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began counting deaths in 1999
America’s child-shooting crisis. Pictured: The aftermath of an eight-month-old gunshot victim, who died after a gun was fired by the victim’s three-year-old brother, in Houston, Texas
The increase in gun deaths among children is related to the increased availability of guns, the number of mass shootings and the growing number of deaths from gunfire in general – both adults and under-18s.
In the US, there are more guns than people, and many households own one or more firearms, meaning that children can be exposed to guns at a young age and accidents can happen even when guns are safely stored.
In 2021, there were 48,830 gun deaths among Americans of all ages — by far the highest annual total on record and a 23 percent increase from the 39,707 recorded in 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.
But there are major differences between adult and minor gunshot victims.
More than half of gun deaths among adults are suicides. Among minors, only one third is suicide. Most young deaths, six in ten, are homicides, and an alarming five percent of those are accidents.
Boys are much more likely to die from gunfire than girls — an 83 percent to 17 percent difference. Older children and teens between the ages of 12 and 17 accounted for 86 percent of all gun deaths.
Victims are disproportionately black. African-American minors made up 46 percent of those deaths in 2021, even though they represent only about 14 percent of the total U.S. youth population.
Other victims were white (32 percent), Hispanic (17 percent), and Asian (1 percent).
That means black children and teens were five times more likely to die from a bullet than their white counterparts.
Mourners pause for photos of school shooting victims, custodian Mike Hill (left) and student Evelyn Dieckhaus, at a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee
New York City was shocked when in 2021 a gang member opened fire on a Harlem street in broad daylight, nearly killing a pair of siblings ages five and thirteen. Miraculously, they were not hit by gunfire
About 45 percent of parents feared their child would be shot, according to a Pew survey of 3,757 U.S. parents with at least one child under age 18 late last year.
Ryan Girdusky, an author and commentator, linked the increase in gunshot deaths among children to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest movement in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
“The creation of BLM and hyperfocus on ‘wake up’ policies… has resulted in thousands of children losing their lives,” Girdusky wrote on social media.
Many children are victims of domestic violence or gang bloodshed, and some become entangled in violent conflict.
These high death rates lead about 45 percent of parents to worry their child will be shot, a Pew survey of 3,757 American parents with at least one child under age 18 found late last year.
Black and Hispanic parents in poorer, urban areas were more concerned than others, researchers found. Democrat-voting parents were also more afraid that their child would be shot than their Republican counterparts.
Everytown for Gun Safety, a campaign group, says American children have “staggering gun deaths and injuries” and many have mental health problems and poor school grades due to the stress of gun violence.
“The vast majority of gun deaths among children and teens and accidental shooting deaths and injuries occur in the home,” the group says.
“More than 80 percent of child suicides involve a weapon that belongs to a family member.”
Campaigners have called for stricter restrictions on guns, including background checks on those purchasing guns, and tougher rules on how guns should be stored to reduce the likelihood of accidents.
But there is strong opposition to gun control from many Americans, who warn against curtailing a right enshrined in the US Constitution.