Key points
- Weapons, nearly all of them firearms, were the leading cause of non-medical, unexpected or unexplained child deaths in Alabama in 2024.
- About a third of those deaths involved a firearm not safely stored away.
- Alabama does not have a safe gun storage law, and efforts to pass one in recent years have failed.
Weapons were the leading cause of “non-medical, unexpected or unexplained” deaths in 2024 for children under 18 in Alabama, according to a report released Thursday, most of which were caused by firearms.
The State Child Death Review Team reviewed 223 child deaths in 2024. Most of the non-vehicle deaths occurred in the child’s home, and most of all deaths occurred in suburbia.
There were 67 weapon-related deaths, and about 92% of them were caused by firearms, according to the report. Guns are the leading cause of death for children in the United States…