When the kids get guns – The effects of lowering the minimum age of firearm possession in Alabama

Abstract

At this time, the relationship between firearm minimum age laws and pediatric injury rates remains unclear. In September 2015, Alabama implemented Act 2015–341 (Act 341) which allowed minors to carry guns with parental permission. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect that Act 341 had on firearm injury rates. We created a database of all pediatric patients who presented to the Children’s of Alabama’s (CoA) emergency department and the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office (JCCO) with a gunshot wound injury between May 2011 to December 2019. Wilcoxon ranked sum test analysis were used to contrast the average number of monthly patients arriving before and after implementation of Act 341 and Wilcoxon ranked sum test and Fisher Exact were used to evaluate differences in demographic and outcome data.A total of 316 patients presented within the specified time period with 116 arriving prior to Act 341 and 200 arriving after; an average of 2.21 and 3.85 patients per month respectively. We found an increase of 1.63 patients per month (p < 0.001). There was also significant increases in the proportion of patients who died or had a long-term disability following the event as well as the number of days of admission. Our study is suggestive that lowering the minimum age can lead to increased pediatric injury and indicates that further research is needed to fully elucidate the relationship.