Did 1994 Assault Weapons Ban save thousands of children?

Child & Teen Gun Death Record in US 1979 to 2009
(Right-click and hit open link to enlarge.)

It is obvious above that during the years the Assault Weapons Ban was in effect that children's deaths by gun went down in the United States. While this correlation does not necessarily mean that the Weapons Ban was the cause for the decrease in deaths, it certainly does indicate that more research is needed.   Sadly, due to pressure from the National Rifle Association, federal funding for research related to gun violence was stopped in 1996. 

 

That situation has now changed. On Jan. 16, 2013, President Obama rallied the nation behind a gun control agenda and issued 23 “executive actions.”  Ultimately the most powerful may be the renewal of federal funding of research into the dynamics surrounding gun violence in the US.  

 

Deaths by gun are slowly surpassing automobile accidents as a leading cause of death. This has already happened in ten states.