In the United States, unintentional injury is the fourth leading cause of death among infants and is the top cause of death among children and adolescents aged 1–17 years.
Pew Research noted that “The rise in gun deaths among children and teens is part of a broader recent increase in firearm deaths among Americans overall.” Indiana may be contributing to the increase.
WRTV posted a story on Aug. 19 entitled “IMPD voices concerns after 3 children were shot in Indianapolis Sunday.” The subtitle stated, “Police and local gun shop owner feel accidental gun shots are completely preventable.” On the same day, the Indianapolis Star ran an article whose headline was “’Gun locks are free’: 2 Indy children died after last week’s self-inflicted shootings.” The Star followed with an article on Sept. 19, “21 Indianapolis kids shot. Few adults held accountable.”
The Indiana news stories about children unintentionally being fatally shot suggest that Indiana denizens are similar to people in other states — and not in a good way. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that. “Approximately one half of unintentional firearm injury deaths among children and adolescents occurred at their home; playing with or showing the firearm to another person was the most common precipitator.” Confirming the Indianapolis police and the local Indianapolis gun shop owner, the CDC added that “Unintentional firearm injury deaths are preventable.”
Anyone remotely concerned about the safety of children already knew that.
Nonetheless, in December 2023, the CDC stated that “In the United States, unintentional injury is the fourth leading cause of death among infants (i.e., children aged <1 year) and is the top cause of death among children and adolescents aged 1–17 years; firearms are a leading injury method.”
The victims of unintentional gun deaths are what media and academics refer to as “diverse.” Non-Hispanic blacks or African-Americans represented 39.9 percent of the deaths, with Hispanic or Latino at 10.7 percent and non-Hispanic white at 42.2 percent. I suppose the CDC thinks it is helpful to distinguish the young victims of unintentional gun deaths by the racial categories of the victims. It may be so, but the brute fact and most important feature of the young victims is that they are dead. In that, their common humanity is found.
Pew Research also broke the victims into categories: “Black children and teens were roughly five times as likely as their White counterparts to die from gunfire in 2021. There were 11.8 gun deaths per 100,000 Black children and teens that year, compared with 2.3 gun deaths per 100,000 White children and teens. The gun death rate among Hispanic children and teens was also 2.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2021, while it was lower among Asian children and teens (0.9 per 100,000).” Pew Research also noted fewer suicides among black children whereas “Among White children and teens, by contrast, the majority of gun deaths (66 percent) were suicides, while a much smaller share (24 percent) were homicides.”
But should a person follow the CDC and Pew Research’s categorizing of persons by unalterable characteristics, then the most common denominator of the victims of unintentional shooting deaths becomes immediately clear: “A majority (83.1 percent) of these deaths occurred among boys.”
Research shows that around two-thirds of the shooters, those who unintentionally kill, were playing with guns or else handling them to show someone else, often a friend. “Approximately three quarters of victims in this study were shot by another child, most commonly a friend, acquaintance, or sibling.” Of course, an unintentional firearm death impacts more than the victim. The young shooters often have ongoing mental distress; the relatives and friends suffer the loss as well.
The CDC reported that “10.6 percent of all children mistook the firearm for a toy (including approximately one quarter of those aged 0–5 years).” We may conclude that children do not reliably distinguish real guns from toy guns and that parents must act accordingly. They must unload the gun and lock it away. As the CDC put the matter, “firearms used in unintentional injury deaths were often stored both loaded and unlocked and were commonly accessed from nightstands and other sleeping areas.” Inquisitive youngsters explore their surroundings, including places where guns might be kept. It is a parental responsibility to keep children safe.
Policy changes might help. States with laws on firearm storage have lower rates of unintentional death among children. Holding parents responsible for children’s behavior with guns, as the recent case in Michigan did, might help. Other policy might help, too. However, the best way for preventing children suffering unintentional firearm death is for each parent to act responsibly. The child’s mother and father should provide loving and attentive care, especially where guns are involved. No policy can replace them.
Richard McGowan, an adjunct scholar of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, where this commentary previously appeared, has taught philosophy and ethics cores for more than 40 years, most recently at Butler University. Research citations for Dr. McGowan’s articles are available at inpolicy.org. Send comments to [email protected].