China News Service, April 23 (Xinhua) According to a comprehensive report, in 2020, guns will become the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States, with more than 4,300 Americans between the ages of 1 and 19 dying in gun-related cases.

On the afternoon of April 22, local time, a shooting occurred near a school in northwestern Washington, DC, USA, injuring four people.

The picture shows the school students evacuating by bus.

　　According to the US "Capitol Hill" website, researchers at the University of Michigan analyzed mortality data released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and published the results in the "New England Journal of Medicine" on the 20th local time. in an open letter.

　　According to the US Chinese website, the author of the open letter, Jason Goldstick, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, said, "For the past 40 years, firearms have been the leading cause of death in children, more than car accidents."

　　Between 2016 and 2020, although firearms were the second leading cause of death among U.S. children and teens after motor vehicle accidents, the gap between the two has narrowed, the analysis shows.

　　Goldstedt also said that in 2020, homicides outnumbered suicides among children and teens killed by firearms.

He also pointed out that although the legal age to buy a firearm is 18, many children and teens who died from firearms in 2020 were under the age of 18, and most were over the age of 14.

　　In addition, the firearm-related rate of 29.5 percent of all types of death (suicide, homicide, accidental and unexplained death) among U.S. children and adolescents in 2019 and 2020 is double that of the general population.

　　In addition, the researchers said that in 2020, more than 45,000 people will die from firearms in the United States, an increase of more than 13% compared with 2019.

This increase is largely attributable to an increase in gun homicides, which increased 33.4% in 2020 from 2019.

In addition, from 2019 to 2020, gun suicides in the United States also increased by 1.1%.

　　The report also said that a previous study found that during the epidemic, the number of gun owners increased.

This is also responsible for the high rates of fatal and non-fatal firearm injuries suffered by children and adolescents.