U.S. Called Capital of Child Gun Deaths

American youngsters are 12 times more likely to die by gunfire than their counterparts in the rest of the industrialized world, and those deaths are part of an overall surge in murders and suicides among the nation’s youth, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

“Our children are getting killed or killing themselves at higher rates than any other country,” said Dr. Etienne Krug, a CDC medical epidemiologist. “No child should die a violent death in the most industrialized country in the world.”

American children are five times more likely to be killed than those in the rest of the industrialized world: The homicide rate is 2.57 of every 100,000 children under age 15. That compares with an overall rate of 0.51 per 100,000 in the 25 other countries surveyed, the CDC said.

Youngsters in the United States also are twice as likely to commit suicide. The U.S. rate is 0.55 of every 100,000 children, compared with 0.27 for the rest of the industrialized world.

And deaths caused by firearms amount to 1.66 of every 100,000 children in the United States, compared with 0.14 in the other nations.

“We are a more violent society,” said Holly Richardson, a spokeswoman for Washington-based Handgun Control Inc. “When you add firearms, which are by far the most lethal means of injury, what you’re going to see is an increase in death rates.”

But a spokesman for Gun Owners of America was skeptical.

“It’s meaningless to compare the U.S. to other countries lumped together like that,” said John Velleco, a spokesman for the Springfield, Va., group. “I think there is a problem with our young people. It’s a serious problem not tied to the availability of firearms. They have never been more strictly regulated.”

The CDC study reflects figures for 1990 to 1995. Each country surveyed had more than 1 million people, similar economies and a system that recorded death rates.

Working with a total estimate of 2,872 child deaths, including homicides, suicides and gun-related deaths, for all of the countries in a given year, the CDC noted:

* 73% of the 1,995 homicides were among U.S. children.

* 86% of the 1,107 deaths caused by guns were among U.S. children. Twenty-two percent of the gun deaths were unintentional.

* 54% of the 599 suicides were among U.S. children.