Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens - higher than motor vehicle deaths.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmc2201761

Suicide is often included as a cause of death to intentionally distort this statistic:

> From 2019 to 2020, the relative increase in the rate of firearm-related deaths of all types (_suicide_, homicide, unintentional, and undetermined) among children and adolescents was 29.5%

If you control for this, and include rates of homicide using other means of destruction (i.e., explosives or knives), it starts to look a lot more even compared to other OECD countries (albeit still above average).

I wouldn't consider that distortion. Its a significant problem that firearms are highly successful suicide on the first impulse. Children who try another means are much more likely to have a chance to contemplate if they really want to kill themselves.

I'm calling it a distortion, because it's often used as a dishonest portrayal of how prevalent gun violence is in the US. Usually by the media, who wants attention grabbing headlines, and don't really care how the numbers are manipulated to peddle to their readers' selection bias.

It's US government agencies that call death by suicide a form of violence, and that's the reason that death by suicide involving a gun is a form of gun violence.

This is despite all the weird laws in the US against collecting, analysing, and reporting statistics.

Shouldn't that number be concerning 30% of children deaths are from guns?

Suicide or not, doesn't that seem concerning? Hmm... Some people say it's the top way children die now by gun. I remember growing up and having active shooter drills in elementary school but it's nothing like they are now. I think we are one of the few countries where children dieing by firearm has increased 46% in the last twenty years or so.

Where I grew up it wasn't rare to hear about stabbings or shooting but it does put me on edge hearing about a mall I used to go to having an active shooter etc.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/14/magazine/gun-...

www.kff.org/private-insurance/press-release/firearms-are-the-leading-cause-of-death-for-children-in-the-united-states-but-rank-no-higher-than-fifth-in-other-industrialized-nations/amp/

It is concerning. But not for the reasons the media makes it out to be.

Only 0.18% of all gun homicides were committed during a mass shooting. https://www.maciverinstitute.com/2022/05/debunking-every-maj.... The chances of you being killed in a shooting are less than being struck by lightning. If you don't plan on joining a gang, frequenting a bad part of Baltimore or St. Louis, or committing suicide, it becomes orders of magnitude less likely, to the point where you're no less safe in the USA than any other country.

So, gun violence isn't a problem but only if you ignore several signifcant forms of gun violence?

Glad you pointed this out, because it's a perfect example of the propaganda machine in action.

Gun violence is the leading cause of death between 1 and 19 years of age. Want to know why this study chose such an odd and very specific age range? Cut it off at 18 and it wouldn't work, since it would exclude gang violence. Start it at birth and it also wouldn't work, since the statistic would include infant mortality. The "kids" being killed by guns are disadvantaged black youth in crime-ridden cities (Open the supplement - https://www.nejm.org/doi/suppl/10.1056/NEJMc2201761/suppl_fi...). Unfortunately, that doesn't sell gun control, so the study is custom tailored to be manipulative in the way it frames the issue.

What does it mean to "sell" gun control (I get that you mean "promote")? Can someone profit from it and how?

hilarious ! nobody wants to help anyone else, because you never know if the other party has guns. Its nuts.

Nothing like a bit of hyperbole to ground a discussion.

> You’re much more likely to die in a car accident.

Maybe so, but I believe you are also more likely to die of a car accident in the US. There's no getting around the fact that amongst western nations, the US has certain aspects to its culture that make it a more dangerous place to live in many ways.

You're also much more likely there to die in a car accident than here :) I don't even own a car where I live and I don't need one. In fact I wouldn't even know where to leave it in this city.

Here in Barcelona a flat rate of 20 euros a month takes care of all my travel needs on metro, bus, tram and train <3