A recent study has found that firearm injuries to children have increased during the pandemic. When the COVID-19 pandemic first started making its way across the world, most thought that the biggest challenge was going to be the virus. After a year, it is clear that there have been many challenges that have either been indirectly caused by the pandemic or have worsened. Mental health, food insecurity, and domestic violence are only a few of the problems that are being exasperated due to the virus. It turns out that firearm injuries to children have also increased during the pandemic, alarming news coming out of a new study.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the study has found that a spike in pediatric firearm injuries is being noticed, and it is alarming. Researchers found that injuries from firearms has increased from either sustained by or inflicted by children.
The study was done by a team from Children’s National Health System and George Washington University and they looked at firearm injury data from the Gun Violence Archive. They focused their attention on children under the age of 12 years old. They looked at the months of March through August 2020, to the same months in 2016 to 2019. By looking at the first 6 months of the pandemic, they were able to see how many children sustained firearm injuries.
The data showed that there were 247 firearm injuries in children within the first 6 months of the pandemic. When compared to the three years previous, the average amount of injuries in the same time frame was 137.5.
The research team also looked at firearm injuries that were inflicted by children, and that rose as well. During the six months of 2020, they found 106 incidents, compared to an average of 71.75 in the years previously.
This study is concerning, but the outlet also states that the pandemic also saw first-time gun owners rising, according to Reuters. It was easy to “assume” that more guns in homes would equal more injuries. This shows that it is vital to make sure our families are practicing safe gun ownership, especially if there are children in the home.
The AAP also stated that due to the pandemic, families who purchased guns for the first time may not have received adequate training, making it an unsafe environment. However, the study admitted that it was limited as to why this happened, because of the many contributing factors that have arisen during the pandemic, like gun sales and the mental health of children and parents.