Are Guns Really Dangerous For Children? The Official Child Deaths Data From The CDC Disagrees

The false President was on record reading his teleprompter that gun-related deaths were the leading cause of death in children. But is it true? Here are the hard facts and data.

The claim:

The claim is that “children” aged 0-19 die from more gun-related deaths than any other cause.

The first problem with this claim is the definition of “children” to include adolescents and young adults ages 15-19, which do not fit the official definitions of “child” from any source or in any country.
The second problem with the claim is that it intentionally excludes the majority of deaths, especially infant deaths, and also excludes abortions, and picks a data set excluding the unwanted data in order to push a false narrative that guns kill children.
The third problem is that the data provided on gun deaths by media sources, as well as on other child deaths, does not match actual deaths in the CDC data.

The truth, as we will see when looking at the hard data and the facts, is that gun-related deaths make up only a tiny fraction of actual child deaths aged 0-14, as well as making up only a fraction of deaths from all-cause mortality of all ages from 0-24.

Official definition of “child” or “children”

The WHO, CDC, and NIH define as “adolescence” ending at the typical onset of puberty, along with Cleveland Clinic‘s age range of “child” as the ages between five to 12 years old, an accurate CDC data analysis would say that in 2020 the leading cause of death for children (ages five to 12) is motor vehicles, causing 551 deaths.[1]

Unicef‘s opening page reads “children” ages 0-24 years. This is misleading, as later in the page, they describe “children” to be ages 1-14, and ages 15-24 to be “youth”, consistent with WHO, CDC, and NIH.[2]

Excerpt

The total firearm deaths in 2020 for children aged 0-14 years was only 659.
For those under 10, suffocation was the leading cause of death in 2020 [1],[17].
For ages one through three years old, drowning was the leading cause of death in 2020 [1].
For ages 4 through 12, every individual age group reports motor-vehicle-related death as the leading cause of death [1].
Besides abortions, the #1 all-cause mortality for children aged 0-14 years was All Other Medical Deaths with 12,624 deaths in 2020; followed by Birth Defects (Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities) with 5,697 deaths in 2020.
After that, breathing-related deaths due to suffocation and drowning (2,497 deaths), and SIDS (2,438) were the #3 and #4 leading causes of death for all-cause mortality in children aged 0-24 in 2020, respectively. [22]

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During initial research, the data was pulled from articles. But after finding inconsistencies, the research was started over from scratch, and the data was pulled data through CDC directly, and verified for accuracy. The discovery was that the total firearm deaths for 0-14 was only 659 deaths from all firearms causes related to handguns, rifles, or other firearms.

2020 Firearm Deaths Among All Children 0-14

The CDC categories for 2020 gun deaths of children aged 0-14 are:

X93 (Assault by handgun discharge)
X94 (Assault by rifle, shotgun and larger firearm discharge)
X95 (Assault by other and unspecified firearm discharge)
= 395 deaths by firearm-related homocide

X72 (Intentional self-harm by handgun discharge)
X73 (Intentional self-harm by rifle, shotgun and larger firearm discharge)
X74 (Intentional self-harm by other and unspecified firearm discharge)
= 224 deaths by firearm-related suicide

Y22 (Handgun discharge, undetermined intent)
Y23 (Rifle, shotgun and larger firearm discharge, undetermined intent)
Y24 (Other and unspecified firearm discharge, undetermined intent)
= 40 deaths by firearm-related other causes

Gun Deaths Summary

Assault Deaths by Firearm (pistol, rifle, other): 395
Suicide Deaths by Firearm (pistol, rifle, other): 224
Firearm Deaths (NOT Assault or Suicide): 40

Based on the CDC’s actual data, children have almost no risk of dying from a firearm, either intentionally or accidentally, compared to other sources.

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Medical Deaths for Children Aged 0-14

Another discovery was a huge discrepancy that is not listed on any other sites except the CDC. There are a total of 23,591 medical-related deaths due to any sort of illness or disease including birth complications, which is massive. Of these, half of them are due to “Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period”, which includes birth trauma and certain perinatal conditions (the perinatal period starts at the 20th to 28th week of gestation and ends 1 to 4 weeks after birth).

The 23,000 number for total medical-related deaths is far higher than mentioned on other sites, and this data is directly from the CDC. Either the researchers failed to do their due diligence, or they are intentionally hiding it to inflate gun violence numbers, which are statistically insignificant. The information is public record and can be found on CDC Wonder by doing your own search.

2020 Leading Causes of Death Among All Children 0-14

Abortion: 629,898 (56,691 after 13 weeks)
Illegal abortions: 19,038
All Other Medical Deaths: 12,624
Birth Defects: 5,697
Suffocation and drowning: 2,497
SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome): 2,438
Covid Vaccine Miscarriage (VAERS): 1,446
Neoplasm (Tumor/Cancer-related) Deaths: 1,386
All Other Accidental Deaths (Fire, Crush, etc): 1,339
All Transport Deaths (Car Accidents, etc): 1,401
All Firearm Deaths (via CDC data): 659

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Firearm deaths among children, all causes, are the least likely cause of death. If you itemize out some of the others, you will find that air and water transport (plane, boat, etc) are only 38 combined deaths in 2020, which is the only one lower.

The interesting thing is that from all deaths via transport, it appears dramatically safer to travel by air or sea than by vehicle. However, these numbers also do not factor quantity – that is, far more people drive over land than they fly or sail, and far more frequently, which accounts for the discrepancy. It cannot really be measured from this data which transport method is safer, considering this.

All Cause Mortality – 2020 Children Deaths Ages 0-14

All cause deaths aged 0-14, including abortions: 679,170
All cause deaths aged 0-14, excluding abortions: 30,234

All Cause Mortality By Age, 0-14

Abortions aged <0 year: Annual Number of deaths: 648,936 [19]
Infants aged 0-1 year: Annual Number of deaths: 21,082 [19]
Children aged 1-4 years: Annual Number of deaths: 3,529 [20]
Children aged 5-14 years: Annual Number of deaths: 5,623 [20]

Vehicle Deaths

The total of all children and adolescent aged 0-15 vehicular accident deaths in 2020 was 1,401. [23]

The total of all children and adolescent aged 0-15 land transport accident deaths in 2020 was 1,363. [23]

The total of all children and adolescent aged 0-15 air, space, and water transport accident deaths in 2020 was 38. [23]

Medical Deaths

Birth Defects (Congenital Abnormalities) – All: The total of all children and adolescent deaths by Congenital abnormalities and short gestation in 2020 were 5,697 [11].
CDC: Birth Defects #1 Cause of Infant Death: According to the CDC, there are 111.9 infant deaths per 100,000 live births, and that the “Cause of infant death rank” is number “1”. The total infant deaths by birth defects and congenital abnormalities is 4,043 [11].
This is true if you itemize each other medical category, but group all birth defects / congenital malformations together as one group.
Congenital Abnormalities / Birth Defects: The mortality page says, “The 10 leading causes of infant death in 2020 (congenital malformations, low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, unintentional injuries, maternal complications, cord and placental complications, bacterial sepsis of newborn, respiratory distress of newborn, diseases of the circulatory system, and neonatal hemorrhage) accounted for 67.5% of all infant deaths in the United States.”[9]
Short Gestation: With 22.4/100,000 deaths [12] and 20,927 total infant deaths [13], there were 809 deaths in 2019. From the HealthData site: “In 2019, 27·6% (95% UI 26·2–28·9) of DALYs among children under 5 years was attributable to short gestation for birthweight, making it the second-ranked Level 4 risk factor in 2019 among children under 5.”
Deaths by Cancer: The total of all children and adolescent deaths by cancer in 2020 was 2,964, of which 1,386 children under 15, and 1,578 from 15-19 [8]. Aside: It must be noted that children do not die of cancer, they die of cancer drugs and cancer treatments.
Deaths by other diseases ages 1-14: 12,082. Includes:

A00-B99 (Certain infectious and parasitic diseases)
C00-D48 (Neoplasms) [Neoplasm = Tumor]
D50-D89 (Diseases of the blood & blood-forming organs & certain disorders involving immune mechanism)
E00-E89 (Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases)
F01-F99 (Mental and behavioural disorders)
G00-G98 (Diseases of the nervous system)
H00-H59 (Diseases of the eye and adnexa)
H60-H95 (Diseases of the ear and mastoid process)
I00-I99 (Diseases of the circulatory system)
J00-J98 (Diseases of the respiratory system)
K00-K92 (Diseases of the digestive system)
L00-L98 (Diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue)
M00-M99 (Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue)
N00-N99 (Diseases of the genitourinary system)
O00-O99 (Pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium)
P00-P96 (Certain conditions originating in the perinatal period)
Q00-Q99 (Congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities)
R00-R99 (Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings, not elsewhere classified).

See chart attached below.

Deaths from unknown causes (infant vaccine regimen)

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: The other 71.7% of “SUID” deaths are due to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) or other unknown cause. SIDS and other unknown cause are the same, and therefore both classified under SUID. This places the SIDS deaths at 2,438 infant deaths annually due to SIDS alone (not suffocation) [3].
SIDS by definition, has no known cause except for vaccine-related deaths for vaccine regimens given to infants, pointing clearly to vaccines being the only possible cause of SIDS. However, vaccines in infants are explicitly excluded in reports from being used as the cause of death, despite being the only possibility. Therefore, “SIDS” & “Other Unknown Cause” should be classified under Vaccine-deaths, but will not be in this article, it will simply be classified “SIDS” which is the official classification.
Vaccine Miscarriages: From December 14 2020 to December 10 2021, there were 965,843 adverse event reports and 20,244 deaths [4]. 4,584 pregnant women reported adverse events related to COVID vaccines, with 1,446 reports of miscarriage or preterm delivery.[5]

Deaths from suffocation & drowning

“Airway obstruction injury (suffocation) is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among infants under age 1.” [17]
Total Suffocation Deaths Ages 0-24: The total of all children and young adult deaths ages 0-24 in 2020 including mechanical suffocation, drowning, accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed, and plastic bag suffocation deaths, are 3,224.
Total Suffocation Deaths Ages 0-14: The total of all children 0-14 deaths in 2020 including mechanical suffocation, drowning, and SUID (Sudden Unknown Infant Death), and plastic bag suffocation deaths, are 1,799.
Mechanical suffocation and drowning: The total deaths 0-24 by mechanical suffocation and drowning were 3,043, of which 2,497 children under 15, and 546 from 15-24 [7].
Infant Accidental Suffocation: SUID (Sudden Unknown Infant Death) results in around 3,400 child deaths per year for infants under the age of 1 year, according to the CDC. [3] Of the 3,400, 28.3% are due to accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed, which is 962 deaths. [3]
Plastic Bags Deaths: 25 children still die every year from suffocation from plastic bags. [18]

Deaths from abortion (including illegal abortions)

Abortion is excluded from most statistics, yet these are real deaths. Even if you include only abortions over 13 weeks (after the first trimester), abortion is still by far the leading cause of deaths ages 0-24, in fact it is many times more.
According to KFF, 9% of abortions are performed after the first trimester (after 13 weeks), which is illegal most countries and most US states. Therefore, the majority US and global opinion, based on legislation, is that abortion after 13 weeks is a living child, and therefore should be included in official statistics. [14]
Since there were 629,898 abortions in 2020, 9% of this is 56,691 deaths by abortion after the 13 weeks, which is many times more than all other child, youth, and young adult deaths combined. Also, this does not include illegal abortions that are not done officially and therefore not reported.
The CDC estimates that 18% of all pregnancies end in abortion. There were 3,605,201 reported pregnancies in 2020. Therefore the CDC estimates the true number of abortions to be 648,936. [16]
Considering these unreported abortions are illegal (as the are unreported, therefore illegal), there were 19,038 illegal abortions in 2020 on top of the other 629,898 abortions.

Conclusion

Excluding abortion, only 2.18% of all deaths in children (0-14) are gun-related deaths, and most of these are accidental and preventable. There were 30,234 deaths ages 0-14, but only 659 gun-related deaths, which is statistically insignificant.

Including abortion, gun-related deaths of children 0-14 are not ranked. Out of 679,170 total US deaths of all causes ages 0-14, again only 659 were gun-related, which is only 0.097% (0.1%).

In layman terms, out of approximately 30,000 deaths excluding abortion, only about 660 were related to guns, and out of those, only 395 were due to assault and only 224 due to suicide. The other 40 were accidents. the other 29,575 child deaths ages 0-14 had nothing to do with guns.

Put simply, almost all deaths from either ages 1-14, with or without abortions, had nothing to do with guns.

Put another way, even with the most liberal definition, in your town of 50,000 people there is approximately a 0% chance of your child dying from anything related to a gun.

Put more simply, there is virtually no chance your child will die of a gun-related death in any case, unless you drive through a criminal neighborhood, where criminals will have guns regardless of gun regulations.

If you keep your weapons out of reach of infants or locked away, then you have virtually no chance of your child 0-14 dying of a gun-related cause, unless you kill them yourself.

Statistical Trickery

It is statistically invalid to exclude huge amount of categories of “child and infant deaths”, including murder by illegal abortions, in order to come to the result that firearms are ranked anywhere significantly in the list of “child deaths”.

Overwhelmingly, and by a huge margin, abortion is the leading cause of death among all causes ages 0-24. Other infant death causes such as birth defects, suffocation and drowning, and SIDS also far outweigh other causes of death.

Even among the liberal definition of “children” (0-24), gun-related deaths among those ages 0-24 are not the leading cause of death.

If you consider under age 5, the numbers are virtually nonexistent, and even those accidental deaths are easily preventable by taking precautions such as putting guns in a tamper-proof lockbox inaccessible to children.

From a statistical standpoint, it is also extremely misleading to include young adults aged 18, 19, and in some data, up to age 24; because WHO, CD, NIH, UNICEF, and a slew of other organizations define “child” as under 12, or no older than 14. Therefore, ages 15-17 are not considered “children”, nor are 18-19 (they are “youth” or “adolescents”); or 20-24 (they are considered “young adults”).

The end result is that gun-related crimes among actual children are so rare they are statistically insignificant. And in decent neighborhoods, there is virtually zero risk of gun-related deaths, as most gun-related deaths occur in dangerous neighborhoods in inner cities. But even these are nothing compared to the other causes of death for children.