PHOENIX (AZ Family) — A new report shows that Arizona is making progress in protecting children from opioid overdoses, yet at the same time, the state is losing ground when it comes to children and gun violence.

Over the past decade, there has been a massive increase in gun deaths among children in Arizona. It has increased 171 percent since 2014, according to the Arizona Child Mortality Assessment Team. last report.

Among teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17, it is the leading cause of death.

“Not because of population growth. You see a 171% increase, which is a rate increase. That means it’s tailored to the population, so it’s real growth,” said Will Humble, who has 35 years of experience in public health. Currently, he is the executive director of Arizona Public Health Association.

The latest data shows that last year, 68 children died in our state due to a firearm, an increase of more than 13% from 2022.

“These are dead in two buckets: suicide and homicide. But if you look at the common thread in both homicide and suicide, it’s easy access to loaded firearms,” Humble said.

Humble says this worrying trend continues to worsen because of politics. He believes Arizona needs laws that make it harder for children to have access to firearms and require safe gun storage.

“States that have child access prevention laws have lower rates, and why is that? Because parents who have firearms know they will be held civilly and criminally liable if something happens to that firearm because they didn’t secure it,” he said.

But children don’t just die from guns. Substance use was involved in one in five child deaths in our state last year, although there was a slight decrease in opiate overdoses.

In 2023, 27 Arizona children died of fentanyl poisoning, seven fewer than the previous year.

“Kids are becoming more and more aware that any pill is a risk,” Humble said. “Availability of Narcan and the fact that you can now buy it from the pharmacy without a prescription also helps.”

Humble says the disparity between gun and drug-related child deaths comes down to the desire to regulate.

“There’s a fundamental thing, something about firearms where people think they can do whatever the hell they want with their firearm and that doesn’t translate, it’s not the same with fentanyl. People don’t see fentanyl as a threat to the Second Amendment,” he said.

Public health experts are clear when it comes to preventing child gun deaths: The most effective thing to do is to remove all guns from all homes where children live.

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