Gun Violence Hurts Everyone, Especially Children

Key Points

• Gun violence has an impact on those who see it or hear it.
• The traumatic nature of exposure to gun violence affects the health and development of young people.
• Gun violence exposure occurs disproportionately in low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

In 2024, someone died from gun violence every 12 minutes in the United States. Gun suicides reached an all-time high, and guns remained the leading cause of death among young people (ages 1-17), with more deaths than car crashes, overdoses, or any other single cause (Kim et al., 2026).

The tragic lethality of gun violence is something that we hear or read about every day. We think less often or not at all about the more invisible but pervasive and damaging ways community violence affects those who see it happening or hear the sounds of gunfire.

The most common form of gun exposure is hearing shots in a public space, and this can create significant distress for younger children, even when the level of threat is not especially serious (Turner et al., 2019). Witnessing community violence consistently is associated with increased odds of gun carrying, substance use, and suicide risk for both males and females (Harper et al., 2023).

Exposure to gun violence is traumatic. Many researchers and clinicians, myself among them, have advocated for its inclusion in ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) screenings. The chronic stress that arises from living in neighborhoods with high rates of gun violence triggers repeated activation of the stress response system, as other traumatic experiences do. Constant arousal of the neurobiological alarm system leads to both short- and long-term physiological and psychological consequences.

Exposure to community violence has been linked to a range of problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress, substance use, and academic difficulties in the short term, and hypertension in adulthood (Bancalari et al., 2022).

Having a gun pointed at you or being shot is different from seeing gun violence or hearing shots fired. It makes sense that the mental health symptoms that develop in response to indirect exposure to community violence are different from those that result from being directly threatened or being a victim. Witnessing violence can lead to depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress (or more internalizing symptoms), whereas direct victimization can lead to externalizing symptoms of aggression, conduct disorder, and impulsivity (Bancalari et al., 2022).

There are some gender differences in symptoms. Exposure to gun violence is associated with increases in anxiety and reactive aggression among males, and symptoms of depression for females. Exposure to gun violence may have an impact on emotional regulation, perhaps increasing a tendency to perceive ambiguous social interactions as hostile in intent (Shulman et al., 2021; Leibbrand et al., 2020).

Exposure to gun violence, like other ACEs, disproportionately affects lower-income children, Black and Hispanic children, and male children (Rajan et al., 2019). The immediate community surroundings are most often the contexts that determine the likelihood of exposure. Household poverty contributes to inequities in exposure, compounding the effects of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage (Kravitz-Wirtz, 2022).

Gun violence in the community feeds into cycles of violence by demoralizing youth, inducing gun carrying, and fostering community disorder (Bancalari, 2022). There is evidence that exposure to gun violence is correlated with a greater likelihood of gun carrying and greater peer delinquency (Shulman et al., 2021). It is easy to understand how the loss of hope in the future and the sense of danger in the neighborhood can lead young people to minimize the risks of carrying a gun. Carrying a gun increases the risk of engaging in gun violence, sometimes in cases of misidentifying a neutral encounter as a threat.

Ruben (not his real name), whom I interviewed for my book, Before Their Crimes: What We’re Misunderstanding about Childhood Trauma, Youth Crime, and the Path to Healing, had many adverse experiences early in life. Repeated exposure to gun violence was one of them, acting as a powerful catalyst in his path to delinquency and violence. He described the violence he encountered as a very young boy.

“The fear was constantly there because I would see people get hurt…the first time I witnessed cold-blooded murder, I was eight or nine years old. One of my uncles was having a party. As I’m walking up the stairs, I see an argument, and one guy pulls out a gun and shoots the other in the face. He shot another guy and ran while I was watching the two guys bleeding out…I was watching it and not feeling much about it, like it messed up my feeling fear anymore or anything much. When I was 10, I started becoming really violent, and I started trying to be in a gang.”

The degree of proximity to violence makes a difference in its impact. One study found that every additional deadly gun violence incident that occurred within 500 meters of a child’s home was associated with a 9.6% increase in youth delinquent behaviors. The further away an exposure was, the weaker were the behavioral effects (Gard et al., 2022), underscoring the fact that where you live makes all the difference to both the likelihood of exposure and the consequences to development and health that may follow.

Gun violence affects all who see or hear it. Children and young people still in the midst of development are likely to bear the brunt of its impact. Only days ago, Apple News reported that “America’s gun violence decline is leaving teens behind” (Brownlee, 2026-09-17). Children and teens in violent neighborhoods express doubts about living to adulthood, which can affect not only their mental health but also their academic outcomes and their hopes for the future (Leibbrand et al., 2020).

Community violence is place-based; children who grow up in poor households in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods are most at risk. Communities need supportive strategies and place-based investments in the social, economic, and structural foundations of community life. Youth in neighborhoods with high rates of gun violence, especially those who demonstrate aggressive behavior, should be routinely screened in schools or clinics for exposure and referred to services before they turn to carrying guns themselves.

References

Balancari, P., Sommer, M., & Rajan, S. (2022). Youth exposure to endemic community gun violence: a systematic review. Adolescent research review, 7(3), 383-417.

Brownlee, C. (2026-09-17). No one is born a killer. The Trace. https://apple.news/AD0cNJhHDSVeA7ncUfQljpg.

Gard, A. M., Brooks-Gunn, J., McLanahan, S. S., Mitchell, C., Monk, C. S., & Hyde, L. W. (2022). Deadly gun violence, neighborhood collective efficacy, and adolescent neurobehavioral outcomes. PNAS nexus, 1(3), pgac061.

Kim, R., Wagner, E. D., Somayaji, N., Villarreal, S., & Crifasi, C. K. (2026). The Firearm Mortality Epidemic: Examining the U.S. Data from 2024. Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.