Gun deaths skyrocket 50 percent in two years among US children, teens: analysis

Gun deaths among U.S. children and teens jumped 50 percent in between 2019 and 2021, a new analysis found.

A Pew Research Center analysis published last week found that gun deaths among children increased from 1,732 in 2019 to 2,590 in 2021. The analysis, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that the gun death rate also rose from 2.4 deaths per 100,000 children under 18 years old in 2019 to 3.5 per 100,000 in 2021.

This rise marked the highest rate and number of teenagers and children under the age of 18 killed by guns since 1999, when the number was 1,776 deaths. That was also the earliest year the CDC had data on gun-related deaths.

2021 also marked “by far” the highest number of gun deaths among the general population on record, at 48,830, Pew Research Center noted. This number increased by 23 percent since 2019, when it was 39,707.

Homicide deaths comprised the largest portion of gun-related deaths among those under 18, making up 60 percent in 2021. In that group, 32 percent of gun deaths were caused by suicides and 5 percent were categorized as accidents, the analysis found.

About 1 in 5 parents are extremely or very concerned about their children being shot, the analysis also found.

Among adults, suicides were the largest cause of gun-related deaths at 55 percent in 2021.

A Washington Post report found that 2022 marked the highest number of school shootings in the country at 46 shootings. There have already been 23 school shootings so far this year, the report found.

This analysis comes as Democrat lawmakers and officials have renewed their calls for gun reform in the wake of The Covenant School shooting, in which six people were killed including three 9-year-olds.

President Biden has reiterated his calls to ban assault weapons and to implement universal background checks, but Republicans in Congress remain opposed to those measures.