Since 2020, firearms have been the leading cause of death for children in the United States, surpassing accidents (including car accidents), illness, suffocation, and drowning. And now a new study, published in JAMA Pediatrics sheds light on how to improve that grim statistic.
Plainly put: stricter gun laws appear to decrease pediatric gun deaths.
The study, led by Jeremy Samuel Faust of Harvard Medical School, analyzed child mortality rates after 2010. This year was specifically chosen because it marks the landmark case McDonald v Chicago. While “the right to keep and bear arms” has been a hallmark of American identity for many and for years, it wasn’t until McDonald that the Supreme Court actually definitively weighed in on whether that meant individuals had the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment. In ruling in favor of McDonald, gun ownership rights expanded as state and local governments had less leeway to establish or enforce laws that could be seen as infringing on gun ownership.
Faust and his team designated states into one of three categories regarding gun laws: most permissive, permissive, and strict. These were determined by creating composite scorecards with data from gun violence nonprofits Brady United, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the Giffords Law Center.
Between 2011 and 2023, the most permissive states saw 6,029 additional deaths. Permissive states had an increase of 1,424 deaths. Half of the strict states— California, Maryland, New York, and Rhode Island — saw a decrease in pediatric firearms mortality, bringing the category’s total to a 55 deaths decrease overall.
“We saw over 7,400 more pediatric deaths due to firearms than would have been expected,” Faust told the Harvard Gazette. “And when checked against other causes of death, including homicides and suicides not involving firearms, there were not similar changes. This shows that differences in firearm laws matter.”
The study concludes that while it is unclear which specific laws may have had the best effect on preventing childhood gun deaths (a subject, researchers say, should be the focus of future study) the analysis nevertheless indicates that tighter laws overall do make a difference in protecting children.
Approximately a third of children in the United States live in a home with at least one firearm. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), nearly 5 million children live in homes with loaded, unsecured guns.
About half of gun deaths among children and teens are unintentional and occur when kids are playing with or showing off a gun. The victims are almost all other children, including friends and siblings. Having guns improperly stored in the home is also linked to increased risk of suicide and homicide.
The AAP asserts that while “the safest home for a child is one without guns,” there are vital steps parents can take to significantly reduce risk. Store your gun in a locked compartment, like a safe, with the ammunition stored separately. Keep the safety on on your gun until you are ready to fire it, and tell your children — early and often — that if they ever see a gun, in your house or anyone else’s, to step away quickly and tell a grown up.
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