By Dave Workman
A recently-released analysis of childhood fatalities upends a long-standing assertion by the gun prohibition lobby that firearms are the leading cause of death among children.
Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, California-based attorney Kostas Moros, SAF director of Legal Research and Education, posted a Fact Sheet which, among other things, challenges how anti-gunners play with data and definitions.
1. Who counts as a “kid.” Adding 18- and 19-year-old adults raises 2025 firearm deaths from 2,099 (ages 1–17) to 3,754 (ages 1–19). Adding infants instead makes conditions of the newborn period (9,749 deaths) the top cause, ahead of accidents (5,339) and birth defects (4,858).
2. What counts as an “accident.” The claim works only when guns are compared with one slice of accidents, usually car crashes. CDC’s own ranking treats all unintentional injuries as a single cause. On that basis, accidents killed 4,140 children ages 1–17 in 2025 (4,043 excluding accidental shootings), about double the firearms total.
3. Lumping intents together. The firearm total combines 1,130 homicides, 800 suicides, 97 accidents, 68 of undetermined intent, and fewer than 10 legal intervention deaths. These are different problems with different causes.
This has long been a problem with numbers posted by anti-gun-rights organizations attempting to dramatize the number of “gun violence” fatalities in the U.S. For years, gun control proponents have combined the numbers of accidents, self-defense and murders into one dramatic figure.
According to Moros’ analysis of available data from the CDC WONDER mortality database, in 2025, there were 4,043 deaths of minors ages 1-17 from motor vehicle-related (2,099), drowning (786), bicycle-related (124), poisoning and drug overdose (266), fire, smoke-related and burns (228), falls (55), suffocation (194), and other non-firearm-related injuries (291).
During the same period, there were 2,099 firearm-related deaths including 1,130 homicides and 800 suicides, plus 97 accidents, 78 from undetermined causes and 10 through legal intervention. When one combines fatalities involving motor vehicle and other forms of transportation, there were 2,223 deaths in the 1-17 age group.
It is only when the numbers for the 18- and 19-year-olds are added in do they exceed other forms of fatal injuries, according to the Moros analysis.
He notes, “Among ages 1–19, firearms exceeded all motor vehicle accidents in 2020–2023 and 2025 and led transport accidents only in 2020–2023. In every year and both age groups, all accidents, even excluding accidental shootings, outnumbered firearm deaths at least 1.6 to 1.”
Cancer (1,375) and birth defects (951) account for 2,326 childhood deaths, according to the data, which still exceeds the 2,099 firearm-related fatalities.
In a corner of his Fact Sheet, Moros explains, “Teens account for 85% of firearm deaths among ages 1–17, and homicide and suicide account for 92%. Responsible storage around young children and at risk teens, and focused efforts against youth violence, address real problems. Calling guns the leading killer of ‘kids’ does not.”
