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Gulf Today
2 days ago
- 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.
CBS News
12-06-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Gun deaths among children rise in states with lax firearm laws, new study finds
Gun deaths among children have risen over a 13-year period in states with lax firearm laws, according to a new study published this week in JAMA Pediatrics, a peer-reviewed medical journal. Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho and Georgia were among the states that saw a jump in pediatric gun deaths after amending their firearms restrictions following a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that applied the Second Amendment to the states, researchers found. Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency room doctor at Massachusetts General Brigham Hospital and the study's lead author, said he started the research after wondering why gun deaths among children were so high. Firearms are the leading cause of death among children and teenagers in the United States, with a steep increase in ages 15 to 19 starting in 2020. "Why did things go so badly in some states?" Faust asked. He said legal scholars told him to look at McDonald v. City of Chicago, which applied the Second Amendment to local jurisdictions. The Supreme Court held in the landmark case that the Constitution's Second Amendment restrains the government's ability to significantly limit "the right to keep and bear arms." For the first decade of the 21st century, there were very few changes to gun laws but every state changed their laws to some or great extent after McDonald, said Faust. Researchers divided the 50 states into three groups — most permissive, permissive, and strict — based on legal changes made since 2010. The team, which included researchers from Brown University, Yale New Haven, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, used a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention database to analyze data from the decade before the Supreme Court ruling and then compared that to data from 2011 to 2023. The findings surprised Faust and his team, he told CBS News. Youth deaths jumped by 7,398 in the period after the Supreme Court ruling — with a total of 23,000 gun-related fatalities. Children's deaths by both homicide and suicide also rose in states that had the most permissive firearm laws, the study found. Black youth also saw the largest increase in firearm deaths in the most permissive and permissive states. The CDC found in 2023 that the vast majority of firearm deaths involving young children were due to guns that were stored unlocked and loaded. But Faust said that while gun storage is an important part of saving lives, the study shows strict laws play an enormous role in preventing youth firearms deaths. In the states that had the most restrictive laws, deaths remained stable or, in some cases, there were fewer pediatric gun deaths. California had a 40% reduction in children's gun deaths, the study found. New York, Rhode Island, Maryland and Massachusetts also saw a decrease. "This study shows the problem is linked pretty tightly to legal posture. This can be fixed and bring back thousands of people," Faust said. "States should ask what they want for their communities? What are they willing to do to save lives?" Gun advocates like Emma Brown, the executive director of Giffords — an anti-gun violence group led by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords who was shot in the head in 2011 during a constituent meeting — applauded the study's findings. "Guns are the leading cause of death for kids and young people in the United States, and now more kids are dying because some states prioritize making gun CEOs richer over fighting crime and building safe communities," Brown said. "This study shows what we all know: common sense gun laws save lives." CBS News has reached out to the Second Amendment Foundation, one of the plaintiffs in McDonald V. City of Chicago, for comment.
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.'
Straits Times
10-06-2025
- Health
- Straits Times
Looser gun laws tied to thousands more US child shooting deaths
Dr Jeremy Faust said firearm mortality rose and replaced car accidents as the leading cause of death in children over the age of one. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - US states that loosened their gun laws following a landmark court ruling saw thousands more childhood firearm deaths than they otherwise would have – the vast majority homicides and suicides – according to a study published on June 9. Dr Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and lead author of the paper in Jama Paediatrics, told AFP he was drawn to the topic as a father wondering whether today's world is safer for children than when he was growing up. 'Mortality from car accidents has fallen dramatically, but at the same time, firearm mortality rose and replaced car accidents as the leading cause of death in children over the age of one,' he said – a trend unique among peer nations. To probe this shift, Dr Faust and his colleagues analysed state-level data before and after McDonald v Chicago, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that extended the Second Amendment to state and local governments. The ruling sparked a wave of legislation, some tightening gun laws but much of it loosening them. The team grouped states into three categories – most permissive, permissive, and strict – and used Centres for Disease Control data on firearm deaths among children aged 0-17. They ran an 'excess mortality analysis,' comparing actual deaths from 2011 to 2023 against projections based on prior trends from 1999 to 2010 and population growth. The results were stark: more than 7,400 excess paediatric firearm deaths in states that loosened gun laws – including over 6,000 in the most permissive group of states. By contrast, the eight strictest states overall saw no excess deaths. The model predicted 4,267 fatalities, while 4,212 were recorded – a near-match that bolstered confidence in the analysis. 'The biggest thing people always want to know is, what's the intent behind these?' said Dr Faust. 'And I think what surprises most people is that accidents are a very small number of these deaths – it's mostly homicide and suicide.' While the study showed strong associations, it cannot prove causation – a key limitation. But in a test of whether broader increases in violence might explain the trend, rather than changes to the law, the team analysed non-firearm homicides and suicides and found no similar rise, a result that makes the findings 'pretty compelling,' said Dr Faust. Black children saw the steepest increases. While the reasons are unclear, the authors speculated that disparities in safe firearm storage could play a role. There were some exceptions. Deaths rose in Illinois and Connecticut despite tighter laws – though in the latter case, the spike was entirely attributable to the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting at an elementary school. 'Big picture, we have a major problem in this country,' said Dr Faust. 'But we also have a handful of states that are resisting these increases and, in fact, turning the other direction.' AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Looser gun laws tied to thousands more US child shooting deaths
US states that loosened their gun laws following a landmark court ruling saw thousands more childhood firearm deaths than they otherwise would have -- the vast majority homicides and suicides -- according to a study published Monday. Jeremy Faust, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and lead author of the paper in JAMA Pediatrics, told AFP he was drawn to the topic as a father wondering whether today's world is safer for children than when he was growing up. "Mortality from car accidents has fallen dramatically, but at the same time, firearm mortality rose and replaced car accidents as the leading cause of death in children over the age of one," he said -- a trend unique among peer nations. To probe this shift, Faust and his colleagues analyzed state-level data before and after McDonald v Chicago, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that extended the Second Amendment to state and local governments. The ruling sparked a wave of legislation, some tightening gun laws but much of it loosening them. The team grouped states into three categories -- most permissive, permissive, and strict -- and used Centers for Disease Control data on firearm deaths among children aged 0–17. They ran an "excess mortality analysis," comparing actual deaths from 2011 to 2023 against projections based on prior trends from 1999 to 2010 and population growth. The results were stark: more than 7,400 excess pediatric firearm deaths in states that loosened gun laws -- including over 6,000 in the most permissive group of states. By contrast, the eight strictest states overall saw no excess deaths. The model predicted 4,267 fatalities, while 4,212 were recorded -- a near-match that bolstered confidence in the analysis. "The biggest thing people always want to know is, what's the intent behind these?" said Faust. "And I think what surprises most people is that accidents are a very small number of these deaths -- it's mostly homicide and suicide." While the study showed strong associations, it cannot prove causation -- a key limitation. But in a test of whether broader increases in violence might explain the trend, rather than changes to the law, the team analyzed non-firearm homicides and suicides and found no similar rise, a result that makes the findings "pretty compelling," said Faust. Black children saw the steepest increases. While the reasons are unclear, the authors speculated that disparities in safe firearm storage could play a role. There were some exceptions. Deaths rose in Illinois and Connecticut despite tighter laws -- though in the latter case, the spike was entirely attributable to the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting at an elementary school. "Big picture, we have a major problem in this country," said Faust. "But we also have a handful of states that are resisting these increases and, in fact, turning the other direction." ia/aha
