Number of US children killed by guns hit record high in 2021, study shows

Child gun deaths in the United States have hit a record high, according to a new study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's mortality database, the study published on Monday in the AAP's journal Pediatrics found that 4,752 children died from gun-related injuries in 2021, the latest year for which data was available, up from 4,368 in 2020 and 3,390 in 2019.

Gun violence has been the number one cause of death for children in the United States since 2020.

The study was published as Tennessee lawmakers opened a special session on public safety after a Nashville school shooting earlier this year that killed three children and three teachers.

Annie Andrews, a South Carolina pediatrician and gun violence prevention researcher who was not involved in the study, said that when she became a doctor, "I never imagined I would take care of so many children with bullet holes in them.