Gunfire has now passed car crashes and disease as the leading killer of children and teens in Ohio, according to a new state-focused report. Using 2025 mortality data alongside firsthand accounts from families and community leaders, the report traces a growing crisis that is hitting some communities far harder than others, with widening racial and urban-rural gaps. The stakes are not abstract: a recent shooting in Cleveland that killed 18-year-old Ecaurion M. Wymes and wounded two 16-year-olds is exactly the kind of tragedy the numbers are describing.
A report by Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, authored by Brianna Booker, concludes that firearms are now the top cause of death for young people in the state. The report calls for several steps: mandatory safe firearm storage, broader background checks, expanded mental-health screening and more investment in community-based violence-intervention programs. The analysis draws on state and national datasets along with interviews from families who have lost children to shootings.
What the numbers show
According to Cleveland.com, teens ages 15 to 19 account for the largest share of firearm deaths among Ohio youth. Urban counties see more homicides involving children, while rural counties have higher youth suicide rates. The data also highlight stark racial disparities: Black children are far more likely to be killed in gun homicides, while white children are more likely to die by suicide. The report notes that about 2 percent of youth homicides take place on school grounds, and of those school homicides close to 95 percent involve a firearm.
Community leaders call for a public-health approach
On the ground, people working in violence prevention say relying only on arrests and prosecutions will not reverse the trend. Myesha Watkins told Cleveland.com, "prevention requires a coordinated public safety approach where law enforcement shares data and works alongside community organizations." Booker has also emphasized that the communities closest to the shootings often have the most workable, real-world solutions, if anyone in power is willing to listen.
Policy options and prevention evidence
Advocates point to research showing that child-access prevention and safe-storage laws can reduce unintentional shootings and youth suicides. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lays out the national rise in firearm deaths and evidence-backed prevention strategies in its Fast Facts, while the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions tracks increasing youth gun death rates and links specific policies to changes in outcomes. Yet despite those findings and repeated requests from local advocates, Ohio still does not have a comprehensive safe-storage law in place, as advocates told Ohio Capital Journal.
What families can do now
While lawmakers argue in Columbus, families are being urged to act on what they can control at home. Parents and caregivers are advised to store firearms unloaded and locked, keep ammunition in a separate location and use tamper-resistant locks or a secure safe. Advocates also encourage parents to ask about guns in the home before playdates, talk with schools about their safety and crisis-response plans and connect with local violence-intervention organizations that offer wraparound services for at-risk youth. Many community programs and hospital-based trauma centers that treat gunshot victims also run prevention and mentoring efforts for teens.
The report presents policymakers with a fairly blunt set of options: strengthen safe-storage and background-check laws, increase funding for mental-health care and violence-intervention programs or watch child deaths continue to rise. Advocates argue the evidence is already sitting on lawmakers’ desks, and the grief of affected families is not letting up. The pressure in Columbus is only growing as more parents show up with the same message: they do not want to plan another funeral.
