Firearm deaths among U.S. children have increased. Preventing gun violence must start at home. | Opinion
According to the Gun Violence Archive, more than 19,000 Americans lost their lives due to gun violence in 2020, up 25% from the year before.
Someone left a loaded gun on the table in the living room and an 8-year-old thought it was a toy,firing a bullet through his thigh. After someone shot and killed a 14-year-old’s father, she refuses to participate in her Zoom classes. Someone fired a gun in a drive-by shooting leaving a 15-year-old boy paralyzed from the waist down. Someone shot and killed a 19-year-old woman’s boyfriend and now she’s depressed and suicidal. Someone please stop this gun violence.
Since 2013, firearm deaths among U.S. children and teens have increased. Overall, firearms are the second leading cause of death, after motor vehicle accidents.
In 2020, COVID-19 and firearms were both deadly. According to the Gun Violence Archive, more than 19,000 Americans lost their lives due to gun violence in 2020, up 25% from the year before. This coincides with record-breaking gun purchases, according to FBI data. There were 3.7 million background checks done in March, 2020, the most in a single month ever.
Almost half (44%) of American homes have a gun. According to the National Violent Injury Statistics System, 82% of teens who committed suicide by gunshot used a gun that belonged to a family member. About two-thirds of the firearms had been stored unlocked. Among those that were locked, the teen either broke into the cabinet, knew the combination, or found the key.
Children may know more than their parents think. In one study, among gun-owning parents who reported that their children had never handled their guns, 22% of the children when questioned separately said that they had. Some of these guns are going to school. According to 2017 data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 4% of high school students reported carrying a weapon (a gun, knife, or club) on school property.
Even if they are not victims themselves, children and teenagers suffer from gun violence just by knowing someone who was shot, by witnessing gun violence, or by hearing gunshots. They can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The signs and symptoms of PTSD include:
Stress, anxiety, or depression
Flashbacks or nightmares
Anger, shame, fear, or guilt about what happened
Worry that the world is unsafe
Avoidance of triggers that cause thoughts about the traumatic even
Difficulty sleeping or concentrating
Headaches or abdominal pain
The harm can last a lifetime. Exposure to gun violence is an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). Annually, 15,000 children and teens are shot and wounded and another 3 million witness a shooting. Research has shown that exposure to ACEs leads to long-lasting poor health outcomes as an adult. And the more ACEs a child experiences, the worse health outcomes that child can have as an adult including heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes, and mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, suicide, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Preventing gun violence must start in the home. Here are some important tips for families to know about guns:
Guns in the home need to be stored unloaded and locked up with the bullets locked up away from the gun. Only parents or responsible adults should know how to unlock the cabinets.
If they see a gun at someone’s home or if someone tells them that they have a gun, they should stop what they are doing, leave, and tell a responsible adult immediately.
All guns should be removed from the home if someone has depression or has had suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Everytown’s Children’s Responses to Trauma provides information for parents and adults about how to support children and teens who have experienced or witnessed gun violence.
Rima Himelstein is an adolescent medicine specialist and Thuy-Anh Vu is a third-year pediatric resident at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children.