The number of youths under the age of 18 killed by guns in the state jumped to nearly 300 in 2022.
The number of Texas youths killed by guns each year has skyrocketed in the past decade, according to data from the state’s health agencies.
Texas Department of State Health Services data shows gunshots killed nearly 300 Texans under 18 last year, compared to just over 100 in 2012 – a nearly 200 percent increase over the past 10 years, as reported by the Texas Tribune’s Alejandro Serrano and Susie Webb. Gunshots became the leading cause of death for Texas youths in 2020, the report found.
State data shows that the rate of gun deaths among Texas teens specifically has more than doubled over the past 10 years. In 2012, about 3 of every 100,000 juveniles between the ages of 12 and 17 were killed with guns. Last year, that figure jumped to eight out of 100,000 for the same age group, according to Serrano and Webb’s reporting.
Source: Gun fatalities now the leading cause of death for Texas children, data shows