C H I L D R E N ' S   D E F E N S E   F U N D
Special Report
Children and Guns
Summary
Gun violence is all too routine in the lives of our nation’s children. Between 1979 and 1997, gunfire killed nearly 80,000 children and teens in America — 25,000 more than the total number of American soldiers killed in battle in Vietnam. Firearms wounded an additional 320,000 children during this same period. The latest data released in 1999 shows that in a single year:
  • 4,205 children and teens were killed by gunfire — one every two hours, nearly 12 every day
  • 2,562 were murdered by gunfire
  • 1,262 committed suicide using a firearm — more than three every day
  • 306 died from an accidental shooting
  • 2,357 were White
  • 1,687 were Black
  • 629 were under 15 years
  • 191 were under 10 years
  • 84 were under five years
  • Nearly three times as many children under 10 died from gunfire as the number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty
We also know that:
  • American children under 15 are 12 times more likely to die from gunfire than children in 25 other industrialized countries combined
  • Homicide is the third leading cause of death among children five to 14
  • 61 percent of the 80,000 children killed by gunfire since 1979 were White; 36 percent were Black
  • Children are twice as likely as adults to be victims of violent crime, and more likely to be killed by adults than by other children
  • White youths are six times more likely to commit suicide than Black youths although the suicide rate for Black youths is up more than 100 percent since 1980
The good news is that the number of children dying from gunfire has declined. The bad news is that 4,205 children lost their lives — a shameful statistic. The 4,205 deaths are equal to:
  • The number of passengers on eight jumbo jets 
  • 90 school buses full of children 
  • More than an entire high school graduating class of a school the size of Columbine every school month
The price that children pay for gun violence goes beyond the numbers who die. Many more children suffer as they lose a family member or a friend to gun violence; sleep in the bathtub for cover; are scared walking to and from school; or cannot play outside for fear of being hit by a random bullet. Gun violence is senseless. 

And it is preventable.

Every parent, grandparent, public official, and citizen must act now to stop this undeclared war in America’s neighborhoods that endangers our children and all of us. It is time to stand up and protect children instead of guns.