Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that guns overtook car crashes to become the leading cause of death for US children and teenagers in 2020.
The CDC data shows that over 4 300 young Americans died of firearm-related injuries in 2020, according to the BBC.
The report, noting that more than 390 million guns are owned by US civilians, says that while suicides contributed to the toll, the data shows that homicides form the majority of gun-related deaths
The research, published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, says the rise in gun-related deaths among Americans between the ages of one and 19 was part of an overall 33.4% increase in firearm homicides nationwide.
The overall rate of gun deaths for all reasons – suicide, homicide, unintentional and undetermined – among children and teenagers rose by 29.5%, more than twice that of the wider population.
The rate of gun-related deaths per 100 000 residents rose among both men and women and across ethnic demographics between 2019 and 2020, with the largest increase among black Americans.
According to the report, in past years, gun-related deaths were second only to car crashes as the leading cause of death among young Americans. Car deaths, however, have fallen over time and in 2020 approximately 3 900 Americans under 19 died in vehicle crashes.