Guns pass cars as top killer of children in U.S.

The campaign to make guns more prevalent and easily-accessible is bearing fruit: in 2020, more children were killed with guns than by cars, a first for the humble American firearm.

Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of childhood deaths (ages 1-18) in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year. That's about five children lost for every 100,000 children in the United States. In no other comparable country are firearms within the top four causes of mortality among children, according to a KFF analysis.