Firearms have surpassed motor vehicles as the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in the United States, according to a new analysis of federal data.

The study in the New England Journal of Medicine quantifies the leading causes of death nationwide for people ages 1 to 19. Based on the analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, firearm-related deaths among children and adolescents increased by 29% from 2019 to 2020.

“The increasing rates of firearm mortality are a longer-term trend and demonstrate that we continue to fail to protect our youngest population from a preventable cause of death,” says Jason Goldstick, associate professor of health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and research associate professor of emergency medicine at Michigan Medicine.

“Recent investments in firearm injury prevention research by the CDC and National Institutes of Health, in addition to community violence prevention funding in the federal budget, are a step in the right direction, but this momentum must continue if we truly want to break this alarming trend.”

Goldstick and colleagues at the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention are working to maintain momentum in this space through its new Data and Methods Core, where researchers analyze national datasets to identify key trends in firearm violence. The institute launched last year as part of a $10 million university commitment to generate new knowledge and advance innovative solutions to reduce firearm injuries and deaths, while respecting the rights of law-abiding citizens to legally own firearms.

The latest analysis on major causes of death in children and adolescents signals an upward trend in firearm violence nationwide, and can help policymakers and community groups identify potential solutions to address this national crisis.

More than 4,300 people ages 1-19 across the US died as the result of firearms in 2020, which includes suicides, homicides, and unintentional deaths. Motor vehicles caused about 3,900 fatalities among children and adolescents in 2020, while drug poisoning deaths increased by more than 83%—to more than 1,700 total deaths—to become the third-leading cause of death in this group.

Read the full article about firearms at Futurity.