Break out the number below 12-years-old and in non-urban settings, and I'll consider whether we have a problem
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the doctor will see you now — soon, anyway
Guns injure, kill rising number of children in U.S.
Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Two studies released Monday in JAMA Pediatrics offer similarly stark views on the impact of gun violence on society's most vulnerable members: children.
One indicates the overall U.S. child homicide rate has increased annually -- on average 4.3% since 2013 -- with a dramatic 27.7% rise from 2019 to 2020 alone.
The other shows a surge -- of more than 50% -- in pediatric firearms injuries that were treated at U.S. children's hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic, throughout 2021, versus pre-pandemic.
Put in a broader context, guns now kill more children up to age 19 than any other cause in the United States, according to a study of the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April.
RELATED CDC: 1 in 15 boys, 1 in 50 girls carry firearms for non-recreational purposes
According to the first study, an original investigation led by the CDC, 38,362 children ages 17 and younger -- nearly 7 in 10 of the victims male -- died by homicide in the United States from 1999 to 2020.
While homicide rates for some geographic and child demographic groups have declined over the past two decades, researchers noted rates recently increased across several subpopulations, with some racial and ethnic disparities persisting for 20-plus years.
Homicide rates recently increased significantly among boys, up 16.1% from 2018 to 2020, the researchers found, as well as among 6- to 10-year-olds, up 5.6% from 2014 to 2020; 11- to 15-year-olds, up 26.9% from 2018 to 2020; and 16- to 17-year-olds, up 19% from 2018 to 2020.
Homicide rates also climbed among Black children, up 16.6% from 2018 to 2020; Hispanic children, up 4.7% from 2014 to 2020; children in the South, up 6.4% from 2013 to 2020; and in both rural and urban areas, the researchers found.
Yet, since 1999, homicide rates have decreased for girls; infants; 1- to 5-year-olds; Asian or Pacific Islander children; White children; and children in the Northeast.
Homicides of children 10 years or younger were most commonly precipitated by abuse/neglect and perpetrated by parents or caregivers, the researchers said.
Homicides of 11- to 17-year-olds "were most commonly precipitated by crime and arguments and perpetrated by someone known to them, especially friends and acquaintances," the research paper says.
From the CDC study itself, linked-to above:
Over-half of homicides were among 11- to 17-year-olds, with over two-thirds being racial and ethnic minority boys (data not shown). Recent data indicate the homicide rate among Black boys aged 16 to 17 years is 73.5 per 100 000 children, which is 18 times greater than White (4.1) and 4.6 times greater than Hispanic (16.0) boys of the same age.2
Homicide rates for 11- to 15-year-olds and 16- to 17-year-olds have been increasing since 2018, with alarming spikes observed in both age groups from 2019 to 2020. The accelerated rates of increase might be explained by an increase in firearm-related homicides within these age groups2 and racism and inequities that foster neighborhood violence in communities of racial and ethnic minority groups.8,9,14,28 In this study, over three-quarters (84%) of homicides involving a firearm were among 11- to 17-year-olds, which is consistent with prior research that found from 2002 to 2014, 13- to 17-year-olds had a firearm-related homicide rate 10 times greater than that of younger children.48
It’s not Second Amendment advocates who’ve pushed to eliminate stop-and-frisk tactics, defund the police, disband police gang intelligence squads, eliminate cash bail, or divert juveniles to “restorative justice” group therapy sessions, that’s all been done by the people who claim that all black lives matter.
If you only look at this chart you will see a skyrocketing of gun violence over the past few years. Even given the fact that shootings overtook motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death mostly due to the dramatic drop in the former, it is clear that the trend for gun violence is super troubling. You are looking at a doubling of the share in 15 years.
You will also see something else, though–much of that increase corresponds with an increase in drug overdose deaths–they mirror each other at the point where gun deaths jumped. They rose in tandem. That can’t be a coincidence, and it isn’t. What we are seeing is a crime spike, and according to the Department of Justice teens are the most likely victims of violent crimes by a wide margin. They are also a significant fraction of the perpetrators, because the teen years are when criminal behavior begins.
