Firearms become the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the US

MADRID, 24 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

Firearms have become the leading factor in death for children and adolescents in the United States, ahead of car accidents, according to a report released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report, which compiles data from 2020, finds that 45,222 Americans died by firearm that year, some 4,300 under the age of 19, representing a year-over-year increase of 29.5 percent, more than double the relative increase between the general population, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan using data from the CDC.

Car accidents caused about 3,900 deaths among children and teens in 2020, while drug overdose deaths increased by more than 83 percent, to more than 1,700 deaths in total, to become the third leading cause of death in this group, as reflected in the document, collected by the ABC network.

The cause behind the rise in firearm deaths in the United States has been due in large part to firearm-related homicides, which saw a 33.4 percent increase from 2019 to 2020. Likewise, firearm-related suicides with firearms increased 1.1 percent during that period.

More than 23,000 people, including about 1,650 children and teens, have been killed or injured in gun-related incidents in the United States this year, according to a database managed by the nonprofit research group Gun Violence Archive.