The nation is still reeling from the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Mass shootings in schools are tragic. According to a recent CDC report, firearm-related injuries are the leading cause of death in the U.S. for children and teens—an all-time high. School shootings receive a lot of media coverage, but mass shootings in schools account for less than 1% of child gun deaths. This column will discuss insufficient access to mental healthcare, the availability of firearms, a spike in violent crime, and numerous other factors as causes of the recent spike in gun deaths among our youth.
Let’s overview the facts. More than 4,300 children and teens died from firearm-related injuries in 2020, surpassing motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death, according to the CDC. Gun deaths among children and teens rose by 29% in one year, largely due to a 33.4% increase in homicides of teens and children between 2019 and 2020. Among the entire U.S. population of all age groups, suicide constituted the majority of the 45,222 firearm-related deaths in 2020. However, among children and teens, homicides made up the majority of firearm deaths.
Mass shootings in schools are horrific, but uncommon. The overwhelming majority of firearm incidents on school property, including K-12 schools and colleges, are accidental discharges, suicides, or acts of violence targeting a single victim, according to the comprehensive list of incidents complied by the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. Fortifying buildings and expanding law enforcement presence in schools may limit deaths from mass shooting events at schools, but these are outlier events. It’s important for policies to address the institutional conditions that result in the most firearm deaths among children and teens.
Many Americans assert that mass shootings are the result of untreated mental illness. Mental health declined precipitously among our youth over the course of the pandemic, in part because of the shuttering of schools and restrictions on face-to-face gatherings. We have a mental health crisis in our nation. Ensuring access to mental healthcare for children and teens plays a part in preventing gun deaths among our youth.
Gun sales have doubled in the U.S. over the past decade from 5.4 million in 2010 to 11.1 million in 2020. The availability of firearms in our nation is a central reason why the U.S. has more gun deaths than other developed nations. Reducing young people’s access to firearms is essential to reducing gun deaths among children and teens.
Attributing child gun deaths to mental illness or firearm availability alone ignores other institutional causes. A 33.4% increase in homicides of children and teens in one year is significant. Changes in law enforcement practices can reduce the number of young people who die from homicides.
Other factors contribute to child gun deaths, including the sale of firearms to persons under 21, unsecured firearms in homes, the proliferation of ghost guns, a lack of firearm safety training, the absence of red flag laws, gang violence, and violence in the home. Additional institutional conditions increase child gun deaths, including bullying, a lack of suicide prevention training, social problems associated with poverty, disengaged parents, mass and social media sensationalizing violence, and alienation among the youth.
A range of institutional reforms are warranted, but these changes cannot just focus on school security as less than 1% of child gun deaths occur in schools. It is important that our solutions address the various institutional conditions that have made firearm injuries the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S. Every child’s death is a tragedy, especially since these deaths are preventable.
Roscoe Scarborough, Ph.D. is an assistant professor of sociology at College of Coastal Georgia and an associate scholar at the Reg Murphy Center. He can be reached by email at rscarborough@ccga.edu.
Reg Murphy Center