A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics on June 9 has found that firearm-related deaths among children and teenagers in the US have risen sharply in states that adopted more permissive gun laws following a pivotal 2010 Supreme Court decision. That ruling restricted the authority of local governments to regulate gun ownership, opening the door for many states to ease their firearm policies.
In contrast, states that chose to uphold stricter gun control measures did not see the same increase in youth gun deaths. According to the researchers, firearm fatalities in those states remained steady, and in some cases even declined, after the Court's decision.
Since 2020, gun violence has been the leading cause of death among children and teenagers living in the US, ahead of car accidents and illnesses like cancer. In 2024 alone, 5,151 children and teenagers were shot and 1,403 of them died. These alarming figures put the US in a category all of its own. No other comparable countries have gun violence as a leading cause of death for children—in fact, it doesn't even make the top four list elsewhere.
In this gallery, we looked at statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FBI, among other organizations, to try and answer some pertinent questions about gun deaths in America. Click on and take a look at the numbers.