When An American Teenager Dies There’s a 1 in 5 Chance It Was From A Gunshot Wound

As a father of two adolescent boys, I think often about the risks they face. I just came across a terrifying statistic that will haunt me: a huge proportion of deaths among adolescents occur as a result of firearms.

Here’s a picture of that statistic. It comes from an article in JAMA Internal Medicine written by Eric Fleegler, an emergency physician in Boston whose work gives him a front-row view of this violence. The picture shows what percent of deaths, at various ages, result from firearms. Firearm deaths are sometimes accidental, but other firearm deaths result from suicide or homicide. As expected, firearm deaths are relatively rare among very young people and also among very old people, with less than 1% of deaths caused by firearms in these age groups. But among people 15 to 24 years old, more than 1 in 5 deaths are related to firearms:

Whatever you think of gun rights and gun control, you should find this statistic alarming. If we care about the health, the very lives, of American adolescents, we need to work together across political divides to develop policies and practices that improve gun safety.

I am blessed with two healthy adolescent children who have avoided gun violence so far in their young lives. I have nothing but empathy for parents who haven’t been so blessed. I yearn for the day when all of us parents and grandparents can come together to fight this epidemic of avoidable death.