- The vast majority of shootings took place in the child’s home and were carried out by people under the age of five, according to new data from Everytown.
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A shocking new study claims children unintentionally shot and killed 157 people in 2023. The victims included friends, siblings and themselves.
The vast majority of shootings took place in the child’s home and were carried out by people under the age of five, according to new data from In every city.
“The victim is often a brother or sister, cousin or friend. This leaves many families dealing with grief and regret,” said Everytown Senior Director of Research Sara Burd-Sharps. NBC News.
Each city’s data is compiled primarily from media reports, but given that many shootings don’t make headlines, especially those that don’t result in fatalities, it’s possible that there are even more young victims of America’s love affair with guns.
Burd-Sharps told NBC that on average once a day a child finds a loaded gun and uses it.
Some examples include a two-year-old in Ohio who shot his pregnant mother in the back in June 2023. In October, an 11-year-old was arrested after shooting two friends, both 13 years old , in Florida and an eight-year-old child. in North Carolina who was shot and killed by her babysitter’s 11-year-old son.
In Indiana in July, a five-year-old boy who had taken cocaine fatally shot his 16-month-old brother while his father slept. In Virginia, an elementary school teacher was shot and killed by a 6-year-old student.
The five-year-old boy (left) shot and killed his little brother, 16-month-old Isiah Johnson (right) in March at the family’s home in Lafayette, Indiana.
Eight-year-old Jenesis Dockery died after her babysitter’s 11-year-old son allegedly shot her in the head with a gun he stole from a relative’s safe .
Laura Ilg (right) was accidentally shot and killed by her 2-year-old son
Teacher Abby Zwerner was shot and killed at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on January 6.
According to Everytown, government officials need to do more to track the number of shootings involving children.
The year 2023 saw the highest number of unintentional shootings since Everytown began its work in 2015, with 411. The group is funded by former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, a long-time campaigner in in favor of gun control.
Typically, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention compiles data on shootings, but it can take years to be released, according to the NBC News report, with key information sometimes missing.
Other federal government research on shooting statistics is only made available to “universities and other research institutions,” NBC reports.
David Hemenway of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center told the network that no government agency is “even close” to establishing a system to monitor the circumstances surrounding shootings.
Hemenway said Everytown’s numbers match what most researchers find when it comes to investigating shootings involving children.
Everytown is funded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a long-time gun control advocate.
A 2015 study found that more than 4.5 million American children lived in a home with an accessible loaded gun. Between 2019 and 2020 alone, gun sales increased by 64% in the United States.
In 2021, Americans purchased nearly 20 million weapons.
Julvonnia McDowell is a mother who lost her son to gun violence. She now works with Everytown to spread the message about gun safety.
McDowell’s son, JaJuan, 14, was shot and killed by a friend who found a gun in a dresser while they were playing.
“When weapons are not properly stored, it causes pain and trauma that I would not wish on anyone. This is a question we all need to be concerned about. Whether it’s your gun or not, believe me, it can be your child,” McDowell told NBC News.