A recent study has found that gun violence has takeover road accidents as the leading cause of death in children in the USA.
The study proved that an increase of 13.5% was noticed in death by gun shootings in 2019 and 2020. The fatality rate for people under 18 in such accidents increased by 30%, the study proved.
The data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was analyzed by researchers to conclude that a record 45,222 gun-violence related deaths occurred in America in 2020.
A researcher on the study and co-director of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention Patrick Carter said that about 10% of those deaths — 4,357 in total — were children.
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According to various studies, gun violence saw a rise in the COVID-19 effected years.
Before this, road accidents were the leading cause of death in children for decades. Talking to NPR, Carter said that the reason the two have swapped places is a “tale of two stories.”
He said, “Firearm deaths we haven’t made much progress on, in fact, it increased in recent years. And we have had a decrease in moto vehicle deaths.”
To prevent accident deaths the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and others pushed for better child safety in cars, taking a scientific approach to the problem.
Carter said that they can do the same thing with firearms. They just haven’t been able to do that in the same amount of years yet. “It takes time to figure out what the underlying issues are with the problem and then finds the solutions,” he added.
