The leading cause of death in children is firearm injuries and, according to a policy brief from 2021, a child or teen is killed in the U.S. every 2 hours and 48 minutes. Now, a Journal of American Medical Association study has shown that states with permissive gun laws experienced a rise in pediatric deaths from firearm injuries between 2011 and 2023, whereas states with stricter laws did not. The new study was published in JAMA Pediatrics.
The researchers of the new study looked at firearm deaths of children 17 and under in the period after a 2010 landmark Supreme Court case — McDonald vs. Chicago — ruling that said state and local governments must comply with the Second Amendment. Chicago’s law banning ownership of handguns was struck down, but cities and states could still regulate guns. That led to states across the country changing their gun laws. The study grouped states into three buckets based on their gun laws: most permissive, permissive and least permissive. States with the most permissive gun laws had more than 6,000 excess deaths than they would have expected based on the earlier time period. Similarly, other states with laws considered permissive also saw an increase in deaths, as they had 1,500 more deaths than expected. Thus, the study adds more robust evidence that states with more lenient gun laws have more pediatric deaths from gunshots.
Source: NPR