Guns kill more teens and kids in America than drugs or cancer, report finds [View all]

[AndyS]

Firearm-related injuries claimed 4,300 young people’s lives in 2020
Guns now kill more children and teenagers in the United States than car accidents, drug overdoses or cancer, according to new research.

The stunning finding came after researchers analysed decades worth of mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says the The New England Journal of Medicine.

The study found that gun-related injuries in 2020 claimed 4,300 young people’s lives, which was a jarring 29 per cent jump from the year before - and more than twice as high as the relative increase when compared to the US general population.

They stated that firearm related deaths rising while motor vehicle crash deaths lowered, demonstrates how creating policies for injury prevention can reduce injuries and deaths — and, on the flipside, how a public health problem can be exacerbated in the absence of such attention.

Vehicles keep getting safer and guns keep getting more lethal. It doesn't have to be this way.