Each year, the authors said, nearly 1,300 children die and another 5,790 children are treated for injuries linked to U.S. ![]() One study published in 2017 in the journal Pediatrics combined fatality data from the National Vital Statistics System and injury data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from 2002 to 2014. In 2016, 15 percent of all 20,360 child deaths were tied to guns, whether homicide, suicide or accident. ![]() children in 2016, behind motor vehicle accidents, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This is not the first time researchers have tried to understand the scale of pediatric deaths tied to guns and whether stricter laws decrease the frequency of these tragedies.įirearms were ranked as the second-leading cause of death among U.S. What do we know about gun violence so far? “The more people who are trying to this, the better” Larosiere said. “The variables they use suggest their own conclusion.”īut Larosiere agreed more data is needed before people can say conclusively what factors keeps kids safer in the presence of guns. Matthew Larosiere, legal policy director with the conservative Firearm Policy Coalition, flatly rejected the study’s use of the Gun Law Scorecards, which he sees as biased coming from a gun-control advocacy organization. “This study is more propaganda than scientific research,” said Lars Dalseide, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association. The study also grouped in young people between the ages of 18 and 21 into its accounting of child fatalities, which critics say painted a disingenuous picture for a study focused on child deaths. Researchers, she said, need more comprehensive data to support that claim. It’s also unclear whether states with stricter gun laws do a good job of enforcing them, Goyal said, which calls into question whether or not these laws make much difference. While the study adjusted for income, race and education, researchers did not account for other laws that could have influenced lower rates of child firearm fatalities, the authors said. That’s because people do not always report gun injuries, meaning the numbers we do have under-count the problem.Īnd while this study’s data suggest a relationship between stricter gun laws and fewer child fatalities linked to guns, Goyal said that does not mean these laws caused those outcomes. Goyal said that no dataset records all firearm injuries in the U.S. The study had some shortcomings, in part due to a lack of comprehensive data about American gun violence. “Our children deserve to be able to play in their neighborhoods, go to school, and sleep in their homes without fear of losing their life to a bullet.” “Firearm injury is completely preventable,” she said in an email statement to the PBS NewsHour. Currently, 12 states have background-check laws in place that kick into effect when someone tries to buy a gun, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.Īmong states with universal background checks, Goyal said the study suggests a 35-percent drop in child firearm fatality rates compared to states without those laws. Goyal also assessed laws that have been linked to lower death rates for adults and children, including required microstamping or ballistic fingerprinting to identify firearm owners, as well as universal background checks to purchase firearms and ammunition. According to the scorecard, the stricter a state’s gun law, the higher its ranking. Goyal is a pediatric emergency medical physician at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.įor this study, Goyal analyzed the Gun Law Scorecards from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, an advocacy group that supports stricter gun laws. The experience of treating young patients for gunshot wounds compelled the study’s lead author Monika Goyal to explore ways to decrease the rate of incidents. That produces a firearm-related fatality rate of 4.65 per 100,000 U.S. What did the study find?Īccording to the study, 21,241 children died due to firearm use between 20, based on federal data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ![]() However, more data is needed to understand the relationship between firearms and public health, and to conclude whether such laws save lives, the study maintains. The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, says states with universal background checks report fewer children’s deaths due to gun incidents. There may be a connection between tougher gun laws and fewer child fatalities from firearms, a new study suggested Monday.
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