Study Expands Upon Impact of Firearms on U.S. Children

A Pediatrics study tracking the zip codes of firearm incidents involving children and adolescents across the United States showed that more than 70-81% happened within the child’s own zip code. The study also found that many zip codes previously without firearm incidents are now hot spots. The study, “Geospatial Clustering of 9–1–1 Responses for Pediatric Firearm Injuries Over Time,” published in the April 2025 Pediatrics (published online March 12) studied 9-1-1 calls for fatal and nonfatal pediatric firearm injuries from 2012 to 2022 and mapped them by zip code. The 26,101 calls were then broken down by age with children 0-10 in one category and adolescents 11-17 in the other. Data found that most incidents – nearly 81% for children and 70% for adolescents – occurred in the patient's own zip code. Further data showed that 40.5% of incidents involving children and 51.5% of incidents involving adolescents occurred in clusters, most prominently in the southeast region of the country. As the years went on, authors found more zip codes being included in geospatial hot spots, suggesting that pediatric firearm events have been spreading geographically. Authors found that clusters typically occurred in urban areas with more 9–1–1 EMS pediatric responses, lower Child Opportunity Index, higher Social Vulnerability Index, worse socioeconomic indicators, lower education levels, and greater racial and ethnic diversity. Authors state this data can be used to identify and target especially vulnerable communities for public health interventions, resources, and community recovery efforts.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.