On Wednesday, the Biden White House posted the claim that “guns are the number one killer of children,” which has been shown to be false.
The White House posted:
Guns are the number one killer of children in America.
Our Administration continues to do everything we can to end gun violence and save lives. pic.twitter.com/7xmvFNPhOW
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 5, 2024
This claim was debunked by Truth Voices when President Joe Biden first made it on June 2, 2022. An analysis of the data revealed that the inclusion of 18- and 19-year-olds (i.e., people of voting age) was necessary for the claim to hold. However, since 18- and 19-year-olds are not children, Biden’s claim, and by extension the White House’s assertion, is incorrect.
A May 26, 2022, FOX News report highlighted figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), showing that in 2020, firearm-related deaths for people aged 0-19 totaled 4,368, while motor vehicle deaths for the same age range were 4,036. This led gun control groups to claim that firearms killed more children than car accidents, but they overlooked the age range inclusion of 18- and 19-year-olds.
Moreover, even within the 0-19 age range, Truth Voices found that CDC numbers indicate that unintentional motor vehicle deaths were 27 times higher than unintentional firearm-related deaths.
