Source: Jeff McCollough / Getty
Black children and teens are dying at an alarming rate due to gun violence, according to recent data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder Database.
Black children are more likely to die by firearm than children of other races. In 2021, Black kids and teens bore the brunt of America’s firearm crisis. Seventeen in 100,000 Black children died from gun-related incidents in 2021, compared to 3 in 100,000 white children or 1 in 100,000 Asian children, according to the CDC’s data, CNN noted.
Gun deaths among young children and teens have skyrocketed since the pandemic. Children between the ages of 1 and 18 were disproportionately impacted. The study reported that there were 2,279 firearm homicides in children and teens in 2021 – almost double the number of deaths reported a decade prior.
According to the CDC, guns have been the leading cause of death in children in teens since 2020, surpassing car accidents. Around 19% of childhood deaths were caused by guns in 2021 in kids between the ages of 1 and 18.
A Pew Research report in April noted that between 2019 and 2021, the firearm mortality rate jumped 50%.
To put things in perspective, in 2019 — before the pandemic — there were 1,732 gun deaths reported among American children and teens under the age of 18. That grisly figure soared to 2,590 in 2021.
“Homicide was the largest single category of gun deaths among children and teens in 2021, accounting for 60% of the total that year,” the study noted. “It was followed by suicide at 32% and accidents at 5%. Among U.S. adults, by contrast, suicides accounted for a 55% majority of gun deaths in 2021.”
The Biden Administration vowed to reduce gun violence following the tragic death of Takeoff, who was gunned down at a Houston bowling alley last year.
On Sept. 22, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris followed through on their commitment to eradicate the growing epidemic. Last month, the duo launched the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The office will work to create legislation and “executive” action aimed at reducing gun violence.
According to the White House website, the new office will be overseen by Vice President Harris, Biden’s policy advisor Stefanie Feldman and leading gun violence prevention advocates Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox.
“Every time I’ve met with families impacted by gun violence as they mourn their loved ones, and I’ve met with so many throughout the country, they all have the same message for their elected officials: ‘Do something.’ It’s why, last year, I signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to keep guns out of dangerous hands, and have taken more executive action than any president in history to keep communities safe,” Biden said in a statement, citing the Bipartisan bill he signed in 2022 to create safer communities.
The president added, “I’ll continue to urge Congress to take commonsense actions that the majority of Americans support like enacting universal background checks and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But in the absence of that sorely needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart.”
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