A study published in February 2022 found that gun ownership increased during the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, more than 5 million children under 18 became newly exposed to guns in their households from January 2019 to April 2021. A 2021 study, meanwhile, also reported a rise in firearm acquisitions after the pandemic started; that was correlated with higher rates of fatal and nonfatal gun injuries both suffered by young children and inflicted by them. The authors suggested that school closings and a resulting lack of adult supervision may have played a role in the trend.
Based on a CDC analysis using the latest available research, NBC News reported that guns were the leading cause of death of children and teens in 2020, surpassing car crashes for the first time in 40 years. More than 4,300 children died of gun-related injuries that year. This was a 29 percent increase over 2019. Guns became the leading cause of death among children and teens in 2020, killing more people ages 1 to 19 in the U.S. than vehicle crashes, drugs overdoses or cancer. Homicides, rather than suicides, made up the majority of firearm deaths among children and teens in 2020. Gun killings, which disproportionally affect younger American, went up by 33 percent from 2019 to 2020.
Most of the children killed by firearms in 2020 were 14 and older, even though the legal age to purchase guns is 18. Children don’t buy firearms, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not possible for kids to get access.
My book, Preventing School Violence: A User’s Guide available through Amazon, has a special section not only detailing the causes but also offers solutions.