By Savannah Tryens-Fernandes | stryens-fernandes@al.com and Ramsey Archibald | rarchibald@al.com
Gun violence is the leading cause of death among children in Alabama, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
AL.com reviewed recent data after four people died and 32 people were injured during a mass shooting at a Sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama. Two people killed were high school students.
“Normally kids bury parents, but now parents are having to make arrangements for their children, and that’s a sad commentary,” said Rev. Emerson Ware, a pastor in nearby Alexander City.
By comparing different datasets, AL.com discovered that:
–15 Alabama children have been injured or killed by gun violence so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The number, however, is likely higher as it does not account for Dadeville or a number of reported shootings in the Birmingham area.
–80 Alabama children died from gun violence, whether accidental or intentional, in 2021, the most recent year available from CDC data.
–Since 2014, 520 children in Alabama have been killed by gun violence and 1060 have been injured, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The 2021 death toll means that gun violence is now reported as the leading cause of death for children between ages 1-17 in the state. The same is true nationally.
From 2018-2020, firearms were the second-leading cause of death for children in Alabama behind car crashes. In 2020, 38 children died from firearms in Alabama. But in 2021, the number of accidental and intentional deaths from firearms jumped to 80.
Each year, many children also are injured by guns.
Accidents, Crossfire, Assaults
So far in 2023, incidents recorded by Gun Violence Archive and local media include a 6-year-old who was accidentally shot in Lanett by his younger brother; a 5-year-old who was killed in Selma while sitting in a parked car; a toddler who sustained minor injuries after being grazed by a bullet in Fairfield; an 8-year-old who accidentally killed himself in Russellville while playing with a gun he found; 7- and 13-year-old siblings who were shot and had their mother killed inside their home by an intruder; a 9-year-old who was shot at a Birmingham motel alongside her father; a 2-year-old who was killed in Camden when people shot at the car he and his mother were in; a 7-year-old in Mobile who was shot and injured while in a vehicle; and an 11-year-old in Dothan was shot in the hand during a drive-by shooting.
During spring break in Birmingham, three teenagers, Jada White and Caleb Witt from Birmingham City Schools and Kamaree Shondale Phillips from Jefferson County were killed by gunfire in a three-day span.
“This makes three kids that left the classroom and won’t return,’’ Officer Truman Fitzgerald said about the killings earlier this month.
Nationwide, Alabama had the fourth highest death rate by firearm for all age groups, behind only Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico, respectively.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, an average of 468 people in Alabama die by gun homicides and 1,325 are wounded by gun assaults every year. Additionally, an average of 549 people in Alabama die by gun suicides and 102 are wounded by gun suicide, which is 57% higher than the national gun suicide rate. Everytown used data available from 2015-2019.
In the days since the Dadeville shooting, public health experts, legislators and advocates have weighed in with different messages about how to prevent further tragedies.
“The Alabama Department of Public Health is deeply saddened by the recent shooting that has affected the lives of innocent children and their families in the Dadeville community,” a spokesperson for ADPH said in a statement.
“We would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone about the importance of child safety, especially when it comes to firearms. We encourage parents and caregivers to talk to their children about gun safety and the importance of reporting any unsafe or suspicious behavior to a trusted adult or authority figure.”
Details from the Dadeville shooting remain sparse. Law enforcement have not yet charged anyone with a crime or said whether they have a suspect or suspects in custody.
Legislative Changes
Everytown, a gun violence prevention organization, ranks Alabama as having some of the weakest gun laws in the country, and says policy contributes to the high rates of gun violence in the state.
Last year, the Alabama legislature passed a permitless carry law, making it legal to carry a concealed handgun into most public places without a permit. When the bill was debated in the statehouse, sheriffs and police urged legislators to reject it, saying it would make it easier for the wrong people to possess a gun at a time when violent crime is rising in the state.
“I’ve had the ability for the last 30 years to teach street level police officers throughout the United States,” said Gulf Shores Police Chief Edward Delmore at the time. “And I’ve worked as a police officer all those many years and I can tell you this bill will make it more dangerous for those officers and more dangerous for the citizens of this state. This is a bad bill.”
In response to the Dadeville shooting and the Covenant School shooting in Nashville in March, some Alabama lawmakers have proposed legislation to increase gun control, while others recommend reducing restrictions on gun owners.
Some of the bills introduced in the 2023 session include legislation that would punish parents who don’t secure guns and allow their children to take them to school; exempt pistol permit owners from being allowed to carry firearms on school property; imprison people with felony records if they are caught with a gun; and require gun owners who have been issued a court-imposed gun violence protective order to relinquish their firearms for at least one year.
