More than 6,000 American children were victims of gun violence by 2022, according to data from the non-profit Gun Violence Archive, which collects data on these incidents. Never before has that figure, monitored for nine years, been so high. Even the number mass shootings in the country it is higher than ever.
This year, the Gun Violence Archive’s counter is now 6,060 victims under the age of 18. Of these children, 1,631 died, 4,399 were injured. In 2021 there were 5,708 victims. The organization also registered 675 so-called mass shootings. That means at least four people have died in 675 shootings. This is the most mass shootings since the Gun Violence Archive began tracking numbers in 2014. In 2014, the organization recorded 269 mass shootings.
Gun violence has been the leading cause of death among children in the United States since 2020, previously most of the fatalities were from illness or automobile accidents. At the beginning of this decade, 3 out of 100,000 children died from firearms. But that number has since jumped to 5, calculated the New York Times in early December.
The cause of this rapid growth is difficult for American researchers studying gun violence to determine. Yet most experts point this out The New York Times he said the increased availability of weapons most likely plays a role.
The black community most affected
Some communities in the United States are more exposed to gun violence than others. Black kids, so calculated The New York Times, accounted for nearly half of all gun deaths last year, despite making up just 15 percent of children in America. For example, children in black communities are now nearly six times more likely to be killed by guns than white children.
The figures come after a year in which the debate over gun violence in the United States has raged fiercely. For example, there was the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which an 18-year-old boy shot and killed nineteen children and two teachers at a school. In June, the US Senate passed the first major amendment to the gun law since 1994, after years of Republican opposition. Additionally, the US government provides millions of dollars to improve mental health and safety in schools.
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