Strict Firearm Policies Tied to Decreases in Children”s Firearm Deaths

WEDNESDAY, June 11, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Children living in states with permissive firearm policies have thousands of excess firearm deaths versus children living in states with strict firearm policies, according to a study published online June 9 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Jeremy Samuel Faust, M.D., from Mass General Brigham in Boston, and colleagues measured excess mortality due to firearms among U.S. children (ages 0 to 17 years) after the McDonald v Chicago U.S. Supreme Court decision (2010). The analysis included data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) database and states” gun-related legal actions, classified as most permissive, permissive, and strict.

The researchers found that during the post-McDonald v Chicago period (2011 to 2023), there were 6,029 excess firearm deaths (incidence rate [IR], 158.6 per million population) in the most permissive states, 1,424 in the permissive states (IR, 107.5 per million person-years), and −55 in the strict states (IR, −2.5 per million person-years). The largest increases in firearm mortality in the most permissive and permissive state groupings were seen among non-Hispanic Black populations. Four states (California, Maryland, New York, and Rhode Island), all classified as strict firearms law states, had decreased pediatric firearm mortality after McDonald v Chicago.

“These results demonstrate that permissive firearm laws contributed to thousands of excess firearm deaths among children living in states with permissive policies,” the authors write. “Future work should focus on determining which types of laws conferred the most harm and which offered the most protection.”

One author disclosed ties to the health care, research, and technology industries.

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