Fact Check: Kamala Harris Falsely Claims Gun Violence Leading Cause of Death for Children

CLAIM: Vice President Kamala Harris claimed on Sunday that gun violence is the leading cause of death for children.

VERDICT: False. Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show firearm-related deaths for children aged 0-17 was 2,281 in 2020, while the number of motor vehicle deaths for the same ages was 2,503.

Harris tweeted:

Moreover, according to CDC numbers, children are are 27 times more likely to die an accidental car death than an accidental gun death and unintentional suffocation deaths are 10 times higher among children than accidental gun deaths.

Harris coupled her false claim about the number one killer of children with a push for universal background checks and an “assault weapons” ban.

WATCH — AWR Hawkins: Universal Background Checks = Gun Registry

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California has had universal background checks and an “assault weapons” ban since the late 20th century, yet the CDC’s Homicide Mortality map shows California led the nation in 2021 with 2,495 homicides, according to the CDC.

WATCH: Here’s the Difference Between an AR-15 and an Assault Weapon”
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AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.