(California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s super PAC “Campaign for Democracy” is running an ad on X, formerly known as Twitter, that reads, “Guns are the number one killer of kids. Not cancer. Not car accidents. GUNS.”
The claim is false for most Americans.
Guns are the number one killer of kids.
Not cancer.
Not car accidents.
GUNS.
And what’s Trump’s response?
A promise to roll back BASIC gun safety laws.
He’s willing to sacrifice our kids’ lives to gain the support of the @NRA.
It’s sick.pic.twitter.com/NWKLErxWxv
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) May 19, 2024
It is true that firearms are the No. 1 killer of kids according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data if you include adult 18- and 19-year-olds as “kids” and exclude kids younger than 1, but even then for 82% of Americans it is false.
Gun are not the No. 1 killer of whites or Hispanics or Asians or Native Americans.
Only for African-Americans is the number true, according to a May 2024 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association titled “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Among US Youth.” Newsom cites a “Pediatrics” article using 2011 through 2021 data for his claim.
The JAMA article reads, “By mechanism, the leading cause of death for Black youth was firearm injuries, whereas the leading cause of death for American Indian or Alaska Native, Hispanic, and White youth was MVCs [motor-vehicle crashes] (Table). Asian or Pacific Islander youth were most likely to die from MVC …”
The false ad is part of an effort to raise Newsom’s profile nationally and build support for a quixotic effort to amend the Constitution to allow greater gun control. Newsom’s political office did not respond to multiple emails including a link to the JAMA article and seeking comment.
