Firearm injuries are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 20. Car accidents used to be leading the death rate but now the rate of firearm fatalities has increased by 87 percent from 2011 to 2021 in the United States. Around 2,600 children and teenagers died from firearms in 2021. Different precautions are being enforced to people under the age 18 about the importance of wearing a seatbelt and overall car accident safety but that is not the case for gun safety. Dr. Toni Gross, medical director of the emergency department at Children’s Hospital New Orleans, spoke about this topic and said “A child injured by gunfire — in a drive-by shooting, for example, or by shots that pierce the walls of homes — is brought in to the hospital at least once a week.” More than 4.5 million children today live in homes where at least one gun is loaded and not secured. It is said that half of the suicides among children 10 to 17 are carried out with firearms.

This article talked about a topic that many probably do not take into consideration. A lot of facts and statistics were laid out in this article. This was very eye-opening to see how many young adults are affected by firearm injuries. It is important that a topic like this is made well aware to the people, simply because it is not getting enforced as it should. This article was really interesting for me to read because it is not a topic that I would normally read about. A lot of important information was written throughout this article.