Recent analysis of the latest annual mortality statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by the Pew Research Center found the number of children and teens killed by gunfire in the United States increased 50% between 2019 and 2021
In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, there were 1,732 gun deaths among U.S. children and teens under the age of 18. By 2021, that figure had increased to 2,590. The gun death rate among children and teens – a measure that adjusts for changes in the nation’s population – rose from 2.4 fatalities per 100,000 minor residents in 2019 to 3.5 per 100,000 two years later, a 46% increase.
Both the number and rate of children and teens killed by gunfire in 2021 were higher than at any point since at least 1999, the earliest year for which information about those younger than 18 is available in the CDC’s mortality database.
Homicide was the largest single category of gun deaths among children and teens in 2021, accounting for 60% of the total that year. It was followed by suicide at 32% and accidents at 5%.
Black children and teens were roughly five times as likely as their White counterparts to die from gunfire in 2021.