Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden again made the false claim that guns are the number one killer of children in America.
This is at least the third time Biden has made the claim in less than a year, and the claim has been false each time.
He first made the claim on June 2, 2022, in reaction to a FOX News report on Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) figures claiming firearm-related deaths of people ages 0-19 totaled 4,368 in 2020, while motor vehicle deaths for the same age range totaled 4,036.
Breitbart News noted that the figures Biden quoted counted people of voting age — 18 and 19-year-olds — as “children.” Breitbart was able to do a custom search on the CDC numbers limiting the category of children to those 0-17, i.e., those below voting age, and the data completely flipped.
The number of firearm-related deaths for children aged 0-17 was 2,281 in 2020, while the number of motor vehicle deaths for the same ages was 2,503.
Moreover, Breitbart News found that even when the category for children is kept at 0-19 years of age, those categorized as children are 27 times more likely to die in an accidental car death than from an accidental gun death.
On April 17, 2023, Biden reiterated his false claim about guns being the leading killer of children in America: Guns are the leading killer of children in America, and the numbers are rising. What has our nation come to when children cannot attend a birthday party without fear? When parents have to worry every time their kids walk out the door to school, the movie theater, or to the park?
Since Biden’s June 2, 2022, claim that guns were the number one killer of children, former president Barack Obama, pro-gun control actor Billy Porter, pro-gun control actress Alyssa Milano, film director Scott Derrickson, and many others have repeated it. Breitbart News has fact-checked them along way and the claim remains false.
Despite the fact checks debunking the claim, Biden made the blunder again on May 24, 2023, and coupled it with a push to “ban AR-15-style firearms and other assault weapons, and high-capacity magazines.”