Children were killed by guns in SC at a higher rate than almost all states, study shows
South Carolina had the fifth-highest rate of children killed by guns in the United States in 2020, according to a study by John Hopkins University released April 28.
In total that year, 127 children were killed by guns in SC, the study shows. That was a rate of 10.14 children shot per 100,000.
The study defined children as less than one year old to 19 years old.
That puts South Carolina far above California, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania in the rate of children killed by guns. South Carolina had almost 10 times the rate of child gun deaths than New York and more than double that of Maryland, where Baltimore is often examined for its youth gun violence.
South Carolina children were about 1.5% more likely to be killed by a gun than in neighboring North Carolina and Georgia.
In 2020, the states with the highest rate of children gun deaths per 100,000 in the study were Louisiana (12.56), Alaska (11.27) and Mississippi (11.14). Washington D.C. had the highest rate in the country with 16.62 deaths per 100,000 children.
The study puts a sharper edge on a topic that has frustrated and befuddled Richland County and Columbia police leaders and has become a new focus for community organizers.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott and Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook have talked about the issue of rising youth gun violence for the last two years, imploring communities to get more involved in solutions and for the criminal legal system to keep repeat offenders locked up.
Thursday, Lott held a news conference to announce charges against 11 people in four fatal shootings from January to April. In three of the shootings the victims were teenagers.
“Until people come together as a village,” Lott said, “we’re going to continue to lose our young people.”
South Carolina organizations like Building Better Communities, Parents Against Gang and Gun Violence, One Common Cause Community Control Initiative, The SC Black Activists Network, North Columbia Youth Empowerment Initiative and Serve & Connect have all organized to prevent gun violence.
In 2020, South Carolina also had the sixth-highest rate of shooting homicides in the country at 10.9 per 100,000, according to the study. The state ranked 19th in the rate of suicides by gun.
For suicides, homicides and other undetermined shooting deaths, South Carolina had the ninth-highest rate in the country in 2020, the study shows. At least 1,131 people died from guns that year.
Shooting deaths rose 15% from 2019 to 2020, according to the study.
Stolen guns factor into the rise of shooting in South Carolina. In November, The State reported that a five year increase in shootings coordinated with a rise in stolen guns.
This story was originally published May 6, 2022 at 12:33 PM.