Are guns leading cause for child deaths in North Carolina?

It’s time now for a fact check of North Carolina politics. This week, we’re looking at a claim Gov. Josh Stein made in June. In a post on X, Stein wrote, “Guns are the leading cause of death for children in North Carolina.”

For more, I’m joined now by Paul Specht of WRAL.

Marshall Terry: OK, so that seems like a pretty straightforward claim, and we’ll get into it in just a minute. First, what’s the context here? Why was Stein talking about child gun deaths?

Paul Specht: There are a few reasons. The one he mentioned in that social media post is that his proposed state budget included a little more than $2 million to promote safe gun storage. Now, Stein's a Democrat, and the North Carolina General Assembly is run by Republicans. That budget is not going to get passed. Republicans will eventually pass their own spending plan, presumably, but there are other bills that involve guns, too.

One of them would allow people as young as 18 to carry concealed handguns without training or a background check. And then another bill would allow private school teachers and parent volunteers to bring guns on campus. Now, those did make it to Gov. Stein's desk. He has vetoed them.

Terry: Now, what reason did Stein give in vetoing those bills?

Specht: He said they do not make North Carolina more safe. Some people are of the mind that if there are more of these weapons in public — at least being concealed — then people would be ready and prepared to respond to violence when it happens. Stein believes that more guns, especially in the hands of people who have not done mandatory training, actually put people in a more dangerous position.

Terry: So what does the data show about child deaths in North Carolina? And let's specify what we mean exactly, as far as age goes.

Specht: And that's a very important detail here to consider. We reached out to Gov. Stein's team and said ‘What data are you referencing here?’ And he sent back a report from something called the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force. This is a state group that has been around since 1991, and what they do is track deaths in North Carolina.

That report mostly backed up his claim. It breaks down deaths in multiple categories, but if you combine the number of homicide deaths and suicide deaths involving a firearm, that number for 2023, the most recent year available, comes out to 102 deaths.

Now, the number two in that category would be motor vehicle accidents at 99. And here's where I give you the disclaimer. This is for children ages 1 through 17. If we include children under the age of 1, birth complications become far and away the number one cause of death. And there's a reason that those aren't included. We reached out to experts at Johns Hopkins University and said ‘is it common to only look at data from the ages of 1 to 17,’ as Gov. Stein did, and they said, ‘yes, if you just look at infants, that doesn't give you a good picture of why other children ages 8, 10, 13, and so on are dying.’

Terry: How did you rate this claim by Gov. Stein, then?

Specht: Well, with that context in mind — that it's fairly common for researchers to leave out infants — we thought his claim was mostly true. Now that means that the statement's accurate, but it needs some clarification and additional information. In this case, that's if you look at anyone between the ages of 0 and 17, birth defects are the number one cause. I don't think that would surprise anyone, just because birth is dangerous. But if you look at the ages between 1 and 17, that number for 2023, the most recent year available, was gun-related homicides and suicides.