Children

Facts

• More than 2,300 kids die from gun violence each year. Young children tend to be victims of domestic shootings, while teens are at higher risk of gun suicide and homicide. -CDC WONDER
• Since 2020, gun violence has been the leading cause of death for American children, outpacing deaths from car crashes, cancer, and drownings. -Giffords
• Gun deaths have been on the rise among children, nearly doubling from 2014 to 2023. -Giffords
• 61 percent of gun deaths among children are gun homicides, which are generally connected to domestic violence among young children and community violence among older children. -Giffords
• 727 children die by gun suicide each year—nearly double the number from two decades earlier. -Giffords
• Gun violence takes a disproportionate toll on children of color. In fact, Black children are more than five times more likely to die from gun violence than white children. -Giffords
• Children in neighborhoods where shootings are a daily occurrence live in fear of being hit by bullets as they walk home from school or sit on their front porches. These realities rob children of any sense of safety and security, and can have a lasting detrimental impact on their lives and wellbeing. One study suggests that children living within two to three blocks of a shooting were 50 percent more likely to visit the emergency room for a mental health issue in the days following the shooting. -Giffords
• Gun deaths among people younger than 18 fell nearly 14 percent, from 2,581 in 2023 to 2,227 in 2024. -The Trace

Possible Solutions Underway

A number of effective policy solutions can better protect children from violence: Solutions offered by Giffords:

• Closing background check and domestic violence loopholes can prevent people with histories of violent behavior from accessing firearms.
• Investing in community-based violence intervention programs has been proven to reduce shooting in cities, making it less likely children will be harmed or killed by stray bullets.
• Child access prevention laws help ensure responsible firearm storage by holding adults accountable when kids gain access to their guns. States that have implemented these laws have seen reductions in youth suicides and unintentional injuries.
• Gun industry accountability laws ensure that the gun industry can be held liable in civil litigation when it irresponsibly markets guns to kids and survivors seek justice in the courts.
• Raising the minimum age for civilians to purchase a firearm would help prevent young people from owning guns until their brains are more fully developed. Studies have found this policy decreases suicides and unintentional shootings.
• Extreme risk protection orders have been proven to reduce suicides and have the potential to prevent mass shootings like the one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.