Firearms are now the primary cause of death among those aged under 19 in America, according to a report published on Wednesday.
Gun-related fatalities spiked by 29.5% among children and adolescents in the US between 2019 and 2020, the paper, published by the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention (IFIP) at the University of New England, has reported. Most of the deaths were homicides, followed by suicides and accidental shootings, the researchers said.
Fatalities from firearms have been on the rise in all age groups in the US in recent years, with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicating that there were 45,222 such incidents in 2020.