Firearms deaths among children and adolescents aged 0 to 17 grew in states with the most permissive gun laws, says a study
There were 6,029 excess gun deaths among children between 2011 and 2023 in the states with the “most permissive laws,” according to the original investigation Firearm Laws and Pediatric Mortality in the US.
States with simply “permissive laws” experienced 1,424 excess firearm deaths among the same age group in that period.
California, Maryland, New York and Rhode Island have all experienced a decrease in pediatric firearm mortality since 2010. All four states were classified as states with “strict firearm laws.”
The results were published in JAMA Pediatrics, a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association.
Why It Matters
The purpose of the study was to study excess firearm mortality rates among children following the Supreme Court‘s decision in McDonald v Chicago.
In 2010, the Court ruled that the right to Second Amendment right to bear arms extends to states through the Fourteenth Amendment. The ruling is considered a landmark decision on firearms regulation.
What To Know
The study was conducted using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) database. The study’s authors compared data from 1999 to 2010 and 2011 to 2023.
States were divided into groupings of most permissive, permissive and strict based on legal actions taken before and since 2010.
In the most permissive and permissive states, non-Hispanic Black populations had the largest increase in firearm mortality among children, says the study.
Pediatric mortality from other causes did not increase during this period.
Firearms became the leading cause of death among children and teens in the U.S. in 2020.
The study concludes: “States in the most permissive and permissive firearm law categories experienced greater pediatric firearm mortality during the post–McDonald v Chicago era.”
What People Are Saying
Authors of Firearm Laws and Pediatric Mortality in the US: “These results demonstrate that permissive firearm laws contributed to thousands of excess firearm deaths among children living in states with permissive policies.”
Dr. Christopher Rees, a pediatric emergency physician at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine, in comments to CNN: “It’s not a political issue at the bedside. We should approach this as a way of protecting children and keeping children out of the emergency department.”
What Happens Next
The study’s authors suggested that future work should focus on determining which laws caused the most harm and which ones offered the most protection.
Reference
Faust JS, Chen J, Bhat S, et al. Firearm Laws and Pediatric Mortality in the US. JAMA Pediatr. Published online June 09, 2025. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.1363
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