Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Once again: No, children are not more likely to die by guns than motor vehicles

Monday, August 28, 2023

Once again: No, children are not more likely to die by guns than motor vehicles

In further evidence of Americans’ waning attention spans, the once annual ritual of gun control activists and their media lackeys manipulating CDC fatal injury data to push a misleading factoid about children and firearms has become semiannual.

This is how it works: Step one, acquire statistics on firearm-related deaths among children ages 0-14. Step two, combine that relatively low number with the far greater number of firearm-related deaths involving juveniles and young adults ages 15-19, or even ages 15-24. Step three, present the resulting data as the shocking number of “children” (ages 0-19 or 0-24) who are subjected to “gun violence” each day/week/month/year. Step four, use the disingenuous statistic to advocate for pre-determined gun control policies.

Back in March, gun controllers dredged up this tactic once again, using CDC’s 2021 fatal injury data. As with overall violent crime, firearm-related violence has been elevated in recent years, alongside the conscious implementation of soft-on-crime criminal justice policies. Sadly, younger people were no exception to this increase.

On March 29, 2023 CNN ran an article with the misleading headline, “Children and teens are more likely to die by guns than anything else.”

As this CNN article discussed “children and teens,” consider the data on children - ages 0-12. For this cohort, firearm-related injuries are not the leading causes of death and are not higher than motor vehicle deaths. The number of motor vehicle deaths in this age group is more than double that of firearms-related deaths. The number of motor vehicle deaths in the 0-14 age group is more than 50-percent higher than firearm-related deaths. Moreover, when examining the cohort ages 0-17, motor vehicle deaths are still higher than firearm-related deaths.

This does shift when examining the cohort ages 15-19. Over 80-percent of the firearm-related deaths that occur in the 0-19 age group happen among the juveniles and young adults ages 15-19. This disparity shouldn’t be surprising. The 15-19 cohort is far more often engaged in the type of street crime that can give rise to firearm-related violence and that many jurisdictions have decided to address in a more lenient manner in recent years. The conflation of this age group with young children is even more absurd when one considers that in the vast majority of jurisdictions those 15 and older can be prosecuted as adults.

Evidently one round of misleading headlines each year isn’t enough.

So, in August, the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics published a paper titled, “Trends and Disparities in Firearm Deaths Among Children.” The paper examined the same 2021 CDC fatal injury data referenced above. Despite the headline, the very first line of the paper acknowledged that the item concerns “children and adolescents.” However, the paper goes on to conflate children and adolescents at various points, later including even 18 and 19-year-olds under the definition of “children.”

The results were predictable.

The same day the study was published online, United Press International ran an article titled, “Gun deaths surge, become leading cause of death for U.S. children.” Today published a piece with the headline, “Gun violence is leading cause of death for US children and teens, study finds.”

As all these items are based on the same 2021 CDC fatal injury data, they are misleading in the same manner as the March CNN article. Simply put, firearms are not the leading cause of death among children – even under the most expansive definition of the term (ages 0-17).

The next time you see a shocking headline about children and firearms, keep in mind how those pushing a political agenda have no interest in the truth.

IN THIS ARTICLE
Research Bias
TRENDING NOW
Last Chance for Gun Owners to Ask U.S. House to Amend the Reconciliation Bill

News  

Monday, May 19, 2025

Last Chance for Gun Owners to Ask U.S. House to Amend the Reconciliation Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives has another chance to amend the current Reconciliation Bill making its way through Congress. The Reconciliation Bill would currently rescind the unconstitutional tax on suppressors, but it doesn’t remove them ...

Clueless Anti-gun Democrats Dig Themselves an Ever Deeper Hole

Monday, May 19, 2025

Clueless Anti-gun Democrats Dig Themselves an Ever Deeper Hole

Anyone reading the firearm-related news these days is reminded that anti-gun Democrats appear oblivious to the blunt message sent by millions of American voters last fall. Despite Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris blowing through a mountain ...

Trump DOJ Settles Lawsuits Involving Forced Reset Triggers

News  

Monday, May 19, 2025

Trump DOJ Settles Lawsuits Involving Forced Reset Triggers

On Friday, May 16, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the settlement of several lawsuits arising from the Biden-Harris regime’s attempt to reclassify forced reset triggers (FRTs) as “machineguns.” DOJ’s announcement cited President Trump’s Executive Order Protecting ...

Rocky Times for Gun Owners in the Rocky Mountain State

News  

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Rocky Times for Gun Owners in the Rocky Mountain State

As the Colorado legislative session closes, its 2025 edition will long be remembered and lamented as a historic assault on the Second Amendment.

House Committee on Ways and Means Advances Legislation Involving Suppressors

News  

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

House Committee on Ways and Means Advances Legislation Involving Suppressors

Early this morning, The House Committee on Ways & Means, led by Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO-08) finished a markup of their section of the Reconciliation Bill. Included in this legislation was a provision which would ...

Arizona: Governor Hobbs Vetoes Three Pro-Gun Bills Passed by Legislature

Friday, May 16, 2025

Arizona: Governor Hobbs Vetoes Three Pro-Gun Bills Passed by Legislature

Despite strong support from the Arizona Legislature, Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed Senate Bills 1014, 1020, and 1143, each of which sought to protect and enhance the rights of law-abiding gun owners in the Grand Canyon ...

Canada’s Gun Confiscation: Still Grasping for Solutions?

News  

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Canada’s Gun Confiscation: Still Grasping for Solutions?

Last year, we wrote about how several previous enforcement schemes for Canada’s Liberal government’s 2020 gun ban and confiscation appeared to have fizzled out. 

Another Court Determines Magazines Aren’t “Arms” in Upholding Arbitrary Limits

News  

Monday, May 19, 2025

Another Court Determines Magazines Aren’t “Arms” in Upholding Arbitrary Limits

Last week, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld the state’s ban on magazines that hold over ten rounds, overturning a lower court order that had deemed it unconstitutional. The 7-2 decision in State v. Gator’s Custom ...

Anti-gun Lawmakers Attempt to Ban Essential Second Amendment Arms

News  

Monday, May 5, 2025

Anti-gun Lawmakers Attempt to Ban Essential Second Amendment Arms

On April 30, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the so-called “Assault Weapons Ban of 2025.” Picking up where his predecessor Dianne Feinstein left off, Schiff’s legislation would ban commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms, such as the AR-15.

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

News  

Friday, March 21, 2025

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

On March 20, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published an interim final rule entitled, Withdrawing the Attorney General’s Delegation of Authority. That bland title belies the historic nature of the measure, which is aimed at reviving ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.