Gun deaths were the leading killer of US children in 2020

Guns overtook car crashes to become the leading cause of death for US children and teenagers in 2020, new research shows.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that over 4,300 young Americans died of firearm-related injuries in 2020.

While suicides contributed to the toll, the data shows that homicides form the majority of gun-related deaths.

More than 390 million guns are owned by US civilians.

According to the research – which was published this week in the New England Journal Medicine – 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.

Homicides, the study noted, disproportionately impact young Americans.

Over the same time period, the rate of firearm suicides in the US rose by 1.1%.

The overall rate of gun deaths of all reasons – suicide, homicide, unintentional and undetermined – among children and teenagers rose by 29.5%, more than twice that of the wider population.

Read more via BBC/ New England Journal Medicine