U.S. children victimized by rampant gun violence: Newsweek

NEW YORK, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the United States, and simply being exposed to gun violence at an early age causes significant harm to children's mental health, reported Newsweek on Thursday.

Around 9 million children per year were exposed to gun violence prior to the pandemic and Black children had a 4.44 times higher exposure rate than white children. This disparity has only gotten worse, according to the report.

Witnessing gun violence can prompt serious mental illnesses, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression, but it can also lead to combative and disruptive behavior, it said.

"That's a monumental crisis and a racist failure with serious consequences for children's well-being well into adulthood," it noted.

What's also clear is that as activists and some leaders move to try to stem the violence, the country also needs to address the monumental mental health crisis that's emerging in the way of the gun violence epidemic, it added.