Child Gun Deaths Surging in Arkansas and Across US, CDC Data Show

The United States has experienced a sharp increase in firearm-related deaths among young people in recent years, with Arkansas seeing one of the largest increases in the nation, according to a new analysis by KFF of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

KFF compared gun death rates among children under age 18 in the pre-pandemic years 2016-2019 to the rates for 2020-2023 and found that almost all of the 44 states examined and the District of Columbia have seen increases. In Arkansas, the rate increased by 64% between the same time periods, from 3.6 deaths per 100,000 children in 2016-2019 to 5.9 deaths per 100,000 children in 2020-2023. This was the ninth-highest increase among the states included in the analysis.

Among children ages 1-17, firearms have been the No. 1 cause of death since 2020, both in Arkansas and nationally, according to the CDC (the leading cause of death among children under 1 year is birth defects). Firearms are not in the top four leading causes of death for children in any other peer nation. Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murphy issued an advisory in 2024 declaring gun violence a public health emergency.

In 2023, the most recent year for which data are available, the rate of gun deaths for the 1-17 age group in Arkansas was 6.7 deaths per 100,000 people, or 45 children total. That was the sixth-highest rate in the nation and a 91% increase from just four years earlier. In 2019, Arkansas’s gun death rate for this age group was 3.5 deaths per 100,000 people, or 23 children total.

Nationwide, the firearm death rate for ages 1-17 in 2023 was 3.7 deaths per 100,000 people, or 2,566 children total. That is a 48% increase from 2.5 deaths per 100,000 people, or 1,720 children total, in 2019 — and it means that by 2023, seven children in the U.S. were dying from firearms every day. National CDC data show that among 1-to-17-year-olds killed by firearms in 2023:

• 84% were boys and 16% were girls.
• Black children experienced a higher firearm death rate by far than any other racial group, with 12.3 deaths per 100,000 Black children, followed by 5.6 deaths per 100,000 American Indian or Alaska Native children, 2.7 deaths per 100,000 Hispanic or Latino children, 2.2 deaths per 100,000 White children, and 1.1 deaths per 100,000 Asian children.
• Homicides accounted for 63% of deaths, suicides for 29%, accidents for 5%, and undetermined or other types of incidents for 3%.

We discussed recommended safe practices for gun owners and available hunter education courses in Arkansas in a previous post.