Firearms were the leading cause of death for children one and older for the first time in 2020, Axios reports. The firearms death rate among children is steadily rising, as more kids are involved in gun-related homicides, like Tuesday's mass shooting in Texas, as well as suicides and accidents. Nearly two-thirds of the nearly 4,400 U.S. children up to age 19 who were killed by guns in 2020 were homicide victims. Motor vehicle crashes, formerly the leading cause of death for kids one and older, killed nearly 4,000 children.
The numbers show stark racial disparities. The firearm death rate for Black children was more than four times that of white children, and white children were still more likely to be killed by motor vehicles than guns. Males were found to be significantly more likely to be killed by guns. Firearms are one of the few products whose safety isn't regulated by a designated federal agency. There is an existing database for firearm-related deaths with data from all 50 states, which has taken 20 years to build.