‘The kids need help’: how young people want adults to tackle gun violence

Guns have become the No 1 killer of children in the US. But they have little formal say in how - or whether - to confront the crisis

Guns are now the No 1 killer of children and teens under 18 in the US, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was analyzed by University of Michigan researchers.

While 2020 marked the first year that more children and teens of all races and ethnicities across the US were killed by guns than in car accidents, homicide has been the No 1 cause of death among Black teenage boys and young adults over 15 for at least a decade, according to CDC data, and the second leading cause of death among Hispanic teenage boys and men ages 15 to 34. The trend was underscored by the recent high-profile killings of an 18-year-old at a gas station in Oakland, California, and two boys, ages 14 and 15, at a high school in Des Moines, Iowa.