Overview

• Nearly one-quarter of firearm homicides of children and adolescents in 2020–2021 occurred at home, and about two-thirds of victims age 12 and younger were killed in the home.
• Rates of in-home pediatric firearm homicide rose from 0.18 per 100,000 in 2010 to 0.38 per 100,000 in 2021, according to an analysis of NVDRS and Census data.
• Domestic violence dynamics were common in these cases, including associations with murder–suicide (23%), child abuse (20%), and intimate partner violence (17%), with parents identified as the perpetrator in 42% of cases where an assailant was known.
• The UCLA-led research reports that states with stronger firearm policies, particularly extreme risk protection orders and domestic-violence–related relinquishment provisions, tended to have lower in-home pediatric homicide rates.
• The peer-reviewed study, presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2025 conference, used a 14-state trend from 2005–2021 and a 48-state plus D.C. review for 2020–2021, and it notes limitations including NVDRS data gaps, potential misclassification, and pandemic-era confounding.