Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

More children died by guns than car crashes in 2020, for the first time in decades

The lawn outside the U.S. Capitol is covered with 7,000 pairs of empty shoes to memorialize the 7,000 children killed by gun violence since the Sandy Hook school shooting, in a display organized by the global advocacy group Avaaz, in Washington, DC, March 13, 2018. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
The lawn outside the U.S. Capitol is covered with 7,000 pairs of empty shoes to memorialize the 7,000 children killed by gun violence since the Sandy Hook school shooting, in a display organized by the global advocacy group Avaaz, in Washington, DC, March 13, 2018. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

In 2020, firearms were the leading cause of death for children, surpassing car crashes for the first time in 60 years.

We hear more from Lisa Vitale, program manager for the Trauma, Burn and Injury Prevention Program at Children’s Hospital of Michigan.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.