WASHINGTON, May 26, 2022 (AFP) — Firearms have overtaken car crashes as the leading cause of death for minors in the United States, with official data showing a sharp increase in the number of firearm homicides like this week’s massacre. school in Texas.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a total of 4,368 children and teens under the age of 19 died from firearms in 2020; this rate is 5.4 per 100,000. Almost two-thirds of the deaths were homicide. By comparison, there were 4,036 vehicle-related deaths, once the leading cause of death in this age group.
The gap has narrowed since recent years have seen improvements in road safety measures and gun deaths have increased.
The trend lines crossed in 2020, the last year for which data are available, and the results were analyzed in a letter sent to the “New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)” last week.
The authors of the letter warned that the new data is consistent with other evidence of increased gun violence during the pandemic for reasons that are not yet clear.
Updated data from the CDC show that about 30% of deaths are suicide, only 3% are unintentional deaths and 2% are unexplained attempts. A small number was categorized as “legal interference” or self-defense.
In terms of territories, Washington has the highest rate, followed by Louisiana and Alaska.
The data highlight that mass shootings like this week’s in Texas are only a tiny fraction of the total number of children killed by firearms.
Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of the influential journal Science, published an editorial today calling for more research into the public health effects of guns to advance policy change.
“Further research into the public health impact of gun ownership will provide more evidence of the lethal consequences of guns,” Thorp added, arguing that serious mental illness, often thought to be the cause of mass shootings, is similarly prevalent in other countries. places where frequent massacres are not recorded.
source: Noticias
