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Gulf Today
01-07-2025
- Health
- Gulf Today
Guns kill more US children than other causes
More American children and teens die from firearms than any other cause, but there are more deaths — and wider racial disparities — in states with more permissive gun policies, according to a new study. The study, published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics on June 9, analyses trends in state firearm policies and kids' deaths since 2010, after the landmark US Supreme Court decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago. The ruling struck down the city's handgun ban, clearing the way for many states to make it easier for people to buy and carry guns. The study authors split states into three groups: 'most permissive,' 'permissive' and 'strict,' based on the stringency of their firearm policies. Those policies include safe storage laws, background checks and so-called Stand Your Ground laws. The researchers analysed homicide and suicide rates and the children's race. Using statistical methods, the researchers calculated 6,029 excess deaths in the most permissive states between 2011 and 2023, compared with the number of deaths that would have been expected under the states' pre-McDonald rules. There were 1,424 excess deaths in the states in the middle category. In total, about 17,000 deaths were expected in the post-decision period, but 23,000 occurred, said lead author Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, in an interview. Among the eight states with the strictest laws, four — California, Maryland, New York and Rhode Island — saw statistically significant decreases in their pediatric firearm death rates. Illinois, which was directly affected by the court's decision in the McDonald case, and Connecticut saw increases in their rates. In Massachusetts and New Jersey, the changes were not statistically significant. The rate increased in all but four (Alaska, Arizona, Nebraska and South Dakota) of the 41 states in the two permissive categories. (Hawaii was not included in the study due its low rates of firearm deaths.) Non-Hispanic Black children and teens saw the largest increase in firearm deaths in the 41 states with looser gun laws. Those youths' mortality rates increased, but by a much smaller amount, in the states with strict laws. Experts say the study underscores the power of policy to help prevent firearm deaths among children and teens. The analysis comes less than a month after the release of a federal report on children's health that purported to highlight the drivers of poor health in America's children but failed to include anything on firearm injuries — the leading cause of death for children and teens in 2020 and 2021, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Trauma surgeon Dr. Marie Crandall, chair of surgery at MetroHealth medical center and a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, researches gun violence. She previously practiced at a Jacksonville, Florida, urban trauma unit, where she frequently saw children and teens caught in gun violence. 'When I see children come in with 10 holes in them that I can't save — that is a loss. That is a completely preventable death, and it is deeply emotionally scarring to have to have those conversations with families when we know, as a society, there are things we could do to de-escalate,' said Crandall, who wasn't involved in the new study. In her state of Ohio, firearm death rates among children and teens increased from 1.6 per 100,000 kids in the decade before the McDonald decision to 2.8 after it, according to the study. Ohio was categorised in the group with the most permissive laws. The study adds to previous research that shows state laws around child access to firearms, such as safe storage and background checks, tend to be associated with fewer child firearm deaths. 'We know that child access prevention decreases unintentional injuries and suicides of children. So having your firearms locked, unloaded, stored separately from ammunition, decreases the likelihood of childhood injuries,' Crandall said. 'More stringent regulation of those things also decreases childhood injuries.' But she said it's hard to be optimistic about more stringent regulation when the current administration dismisses gun violence as a public health emergency. The Trump administration earlier this year took down an advisory from the former US surgeon general, issued last year, that emphasised gun violence as a public health crisis. Faust, the lead author of the new study, stressed that firearm injuries and deaths were notably missing from the Make America Healthy Again Commission report on children's health. He said the failure to include them illustrates the politicisation of a major public health emergency for America's kids. 'It's hard to take them seriously if they're omitting the leading cause of death,' Faust said. 'They're whiffing, they're shanking. They're deciding on a political basis not to do it. I would say by omitting it, they're politicising it.' Faust and pediatric trauma surgeon Dr. Chethan Sathya, who directs the Center for Gun Violence Prevention at the Northwell Health system in New York, each pointed to the development of car seat laws and public health education, as examples of preventive strategies that helped reduce childhood fatalities. They support a similar approach to curbing youth gun deaths. 'We really have to apply a public health framework to this issue, not a political one, and we've done that with other issues in the past,' said Sathya, who wasn't involved in the study and oversees his hospital's firearm injury prevention programmes. 'There's no question that this is a public health issue.' In Louisiana, which the study categorised as one of the 30 most permissive states, the child firearm mortality rate increased from 4.1 per 100,000 kids in the pre-McDonald period to 5.7 after it — the nation's highest rate. The study period only goes to 2023, but the state last year enacted a permitless carry law, allowing people to carry guns in public without undergoing background checks. And just last month, Louisiana legislators defeated a bill that would have created the crime of improper firearm storage. Louisiana Democratic state Rep. Matthew Willard, who sponsored the safe storage legislation, said during the floor debate that its purpose was to protect children. Louisiana had the highest rate of unintentional shootings by children between 2015 to 2022, according to the research arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, which advocates for stricter gun access. Willard cited that statistic on the floor. But Republican opponents said Willard's proposal would infringe on residents' gun rights and make it more difficult for them to use guns in self-defense. 'Nobody needs to come in our houses and tell us what to do with our guns. I think this is ridiculous,' Republican state Rep. R. Dewith Carrier said during the debate. Another Republican opponent, state Rep. Troy Romero, said he was concerned that having a firearm locked away would make it harder for an adult to quickly access it. 'If it's behind a locked drawer, how in the world are you going, at 2 or 3 in the morning, going to be able to protect your family if somebody intrudes or comes into your home?' Romero said.
Scientific American
11-06-2025
- Scientific American
New Map Shows How Gun Deaths of Children Have Increased in States with Loose Firearm Laws
Gun violence has been the leading cause of death of children and adolescents in the U.S. since 2020. Now research shows that, since 2010, these rates have increased in states with permissive firearm laws and decreased in states with strict laws. The new study, published on Monday in JAMA Pediatrics, compared gun deaths in U.S. states before and after the landmark Supreme Court case McDonald v. City of Chicago. The Court's 2010 decision limited states' ability to regulate gun access, and many states loosened firearm ownership requirements after the ruling. The researchers sorted each U.S. state into one of three categories—"strict,' 'permissive' and 'most permissive'—based on its firearm laws. Relatively strict states had requirements such as safety trainings, background checks and waiting periods. They also tended to ban assault weapons and certain gun-enhancing hardware such as bump stocks (which can make a rifle fire much more rapidly). The more permissive states had limited requirements for gun ownership, as well as laws that allowed the concealed carry of firearms with or without a permit, the use of deadly force as self-defense (such as via 'stand your ground' laws), and more. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. The researchers compared each state's rate of pediatric deaths from firearms between 1999 and 2010 with the rate during the period between 2011 and 2023 using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 49 states with adequate data, firearm death rates increased significantly in 33 states, 31 of which were considered 'permissive' or 'most permissive.' Rates decreased significantly in four states, all of which were considered 'strict.' The researchers also used the historical data from 1999 to 2010 to predict the number of childhood firearm deaths that would be expected in 2011 to 2023. States with more permissive gun laws were more or less on trend, with a total of 55 fewer childhood gun deaths than expected between 2011 and 2023. But states with permissive gun laws saw a total of 1,424 more childhood deaths from firearms than expected. In the most permissive states, the number was 6,029. 'Nationwide, you're looking at 23,000 deaths over 13 years instead of 16,000,' says the study's lead author Jeremy Faust, an emergency room physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. This burden was spread across urban, suburban and rural communities but affected Black communities the most. The data cannot prove that the different laws caused this disparity. Deaths that didn't involve firearms, including homicides and suicides, however, did not show this state-by-state effect. There are two notable outliers in the data—Illinois and Connecticut. These two states were in the strict category but had significant increases in death rate. For Illinois, 'I don't have a great explanation, but someone should look into that,' Faust says. Yet 'if you exclude one day from Connecticut, the Sandy Hook massacre, you don't have an increase.' The school shooting, which occurred in 2012 and killed 20 children and six adults, led to the stricter gun laws that Connecticut has today. 'We live in a society where we have these rights, but we also live in a society that has 50 different interpretations of how to make that work. And I think that we need to start to study what is working,' Faust says. 'A place like New Hampshire may not have the same solution as a place like California. [The solution] is not going to be one-size-fits-all.'
Fox News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Jussie Smollett donates $50,000 to charity in Chicago settlement, maintains his innocence
After reaching a settlement with the City of Chicago earlier this month, Jussie Smollett agreed to make a $50,000 charitable donation to have a lawsuit against him dismissed. In a lengthy statement to Fox News Digital, Smollett said, "Over six years ago, after it was reported I had been jumped, city officials in Chicago set out to convince the public that I willfully set an assault against myself. This false narrative has left a stain on my character that will not soon disappear. These officials wanted my money and wanted my confession for something I did not do. "Today, it should be clear. … They have received neither. The decision to settle the civil lawsuit was not the most difficult one to make. After repeatedly refusing to pay the city, I was presented with an opportunity to make a charitable donation in exchange for the case being dismissed." Smollett, who is Black and gay, originally reported to Chicago Police he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack by two men wearing ski masks in January 2019. He was convicted in 2021 of staging the hate crime, but his conviction was overturned in November 2024. In April 2019, the City of Chicago filed a lawsuit against Smollett in an attempt to recoup the costs of police investigating the alleged attack. The actor told Fox News Digital "despite what happened there politically," he still has a place in his heart for the city. "Therefore, making a donation to benefit Chicago communities that are too often neglected by those in power will always be something I support," he said. "I've made a $50,000 donation to Building Brighter Futures (BBF) Center for the Arts, a local nonprofit doing incredible work nurturing self-expression, creativity and exploration of the arts for Chicago youth. This organization was of my choosing, and I'm comforted that there will be at least one winner from this experience." Smollett said that even though the criminal charges were overturned, and the civil case has been dismissed, "I'm aware that it will not change everyone's mind about me or the attack I experienced. However, despite arduous and expensive attempts to punish me, I am innocent both in the eyes of God and of our criminal justice system." Now, he said, he'll focus on moving forward. "I will continue creating my art, fighting passionately for causes I hold dear and defending my integrity and family name with the truth," the former "Empire" star said. In addition to the $50,000 he donated as part of his settlement, Smollett said he's also donating $10,000 to the Chicago Torture Justice Center, which "provides resources to communities healing from the violence of the Chicago Police Department." "To anyone who has had to prove they have in fact been violated, you know how difficult this can be to navigate. I stand with and for you," Smollett said of the donation. In a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times, city lawyers said, "The city believes this settlement provides a fair, constructive and conclusive resolution, allowing all the parties to close this six-year-old chapter and move forward." Criminal charges against Smollett were originally dropped in March 2019, a month after his arrest. After special prosecutor Kim Foxx requested a new inquiry, the "Empire" star was convicted in December 2021 on five felony counts and later sentenced to 150 days in county jail. The Illinois Supreme Court decided in November 2024 that the special prosecutor's decision to retry Smollett on charges violated his rights. "Today we resolve a question about the state's responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants," Mark Geragos, Smollett's lawyer, told Fox News Digital at the time. "We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation, and we therefore reverse defendant's conviction." "This was not a prosecution based on facts, rather it was a vindictive persecution, and such a proceeding has no place in our criminal justice system," another of Smollett's attorneys, Nenye Uche, told Fox in a statement. "Ultimately, we are pleased that the rule of law was the big winner today. We are thankful to the Illinois Supreme Court for restoring order to Illinois' criminal law jurisprudence."
CBS News
14-05-2025
- CBS News
Chicago Department of Transportation worker says she was subjected to repeated racial, gender harassment
A Chicago Department of Transportation worker is suing her employer, claiming she was harassed on the job because of her race and gender. She also said some of the harassment was violent, and happened while she was pregnant. For more than a year, Danyiell Montgomery dreaded clocking in for work at the city garage where she was employed — yet she said she showed up on time, despite what she called racial and gender discrimination daily on the job. Montgomery said a fellow CDOT worker even threatened her with a gun on the job — with no repercussions from the city. Montgomery has spent the past decade working for CDOT. "When the finishers, or the person that runs the truck pours the concrete out, I grade the concrete. I help move the stakes," she said. It was back in May 2023 when she was transferred that Montgomery said her time with CDOT became unbearable. "I would walk out of my house crying with headaches every day. My chest was tightened," Montgomery said. "At the time, I think I was like 11 weeks pregnant." The 15-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court accuses the City of Chicago of failing to protect and investigate what Montgomery called workplace harassment for being a woman, Black, and pregnant. "It took me a while to actually say something," Montgomery said. The lawsuit said one coworker targeted her, and "the Department took no action to stop the behavior." For weeks, the worker called Montgomery racial epithets and slurs in front of supervisors and coworkers, according to court papers: "What is a pregnant woman doing here?" "We don't need no lazy woman here. Get her out of here." "Why the f*** is she still here?" "Don't you have a husband or something?" "Black women and their f****** attitudes." "All you Black m*****f*****s and your attitudes." "We don't need my disable mother f***** working here not contributing to the work site." Despite filing grievances and requesting to move to a new crew, Montgomery said her requests were denied. "I see you could have changed my site, but you didn't, because this guy was your friend," she said. But the biggest problem came when Montgomery said her coworker threatened her with a gun when she finally defended herself. "He pulled his shirt up and said, 'I keep it on me for people like you,' I said, 'For people like who?' And I'm going to be honest. At that point, I started shaking," Montgomery said. "I started shaking, I started crying, because yes, I'm Black, but I've never had nobody pull a gun on me." The suit said, "Even after brandishing a gun, the individual was allowed to continue to work next to Ms. Montgomery." "I believe the biggest things in this case were the slurs," said attorney Chiquita Hall-Jackson. Hall-Jackson said in 2025, people do not go around blatantly using slurs in public. She said it points to ongoing problems with CDOT. "That's what we're asking the city do," she said, "that they go in and actually clean house in each department." CDOT said in a statement: "While we cannot comment on pending litigation, the Chicago Department of Transportation takes any claims of discrimination and harassment seriously. Please refer any legal inquiries to the City of Chicago Law Department." Montgomery is still employed by CDOT. According to the lawsuit, she left and went on unpaid leave from June to November, and when she returned, the department still paired her with the harassing coworker.c
