Gun Deaths Among Children, Teens Decline
For the first time in a decade, fewer children and teenagers are being killed by guns, government-compiled statistics released Tuesday show.
Part of that 1995 decrease came about because the homicide rate among young people dropped. Accidental deaths and suicides among teens and children that year also declined from 1994.
It is particularly encouraging that the number of young black men killed by guns dropped dramatically: 20% in 1995, said Kim Wade, assistant general counsel for the Children’s Defense Fund.
But an average of 14 children and teenagers are still killed by guns each day, she noted. The information was released by the fund and confirmed by the National Center for Health Statistics.
Overall, 5,285 people ages 19 and under were killed by guns in 1995.
The number and the rate of gun deaths had been climbing since 1983, when just under 3,000 children and teens were killed by guns.
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