ENOUGH

Guns Cause Over 15 Percent of Childhood Deaths in America: Study

More than 3,000 kids died of gunshot wounds in 2016.

More than 3,000 childhood and teen deaths in the U.S. were caused by gunshot wounds in 2016, according to a new study. That accounts for more than 15 percent of U.S. deaths between the ages of 1 and 19. Childhood deaths attributed to firearms—3,143—were far greater in number than those caused by childhood cancer, which stood at 1,853. Childhood drownings caused 995 deaths, and fatal drug overdoses caused 982. The figures were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine and were compiled by a team from the University of Michigan. They showed that 1,865 kids died of a gunshot wound intentionally inflicted by someone else, while 1,102 children or adolescents took their own lives with a gun. Childhood deaths caused by a firearm in 2016 were exceeded only by those caused by motor vehicle crashes, which stood at 4,074.