The National Shooting Sports Foundation has disputed a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, arguing that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data contradicts claims that states with permissive gun laws lead in adolescent firearm deaths, Breitbart reported.
A June 2025 study published in the JAMA Pediatrics claimed that states with lenient gun laws were responsible for significantly more pediatric firearm deaths than states with stricter regulations.
However, the NSSF, disputed the findings, saying raw data from the CDC tell a different story.
The study, titled "Firearm Laws and Pediatric Mortality in the US," categorized states into three groups: "Strict," "Permissive," and "Most Permissive."
The authors concluded that "permissive firearm laws contributed to thousands of excess firearm deaths among children living in states with permissive policies; future work should focus on determining which types of laws conferred the most harm and which offered the most protection."
Major media outlets, including The New York Times, ABC News, and CNN, reported on the study's conclusions, prompting the NSSF to respond. The foundation criticized the study's methodology, noting that the researchers relied on estimates and adjusted figures rather than direct counts.
According to NSSF, "Study's authors manipulate the data by using estimated, predicted, and crude-rate adjusted figures instead of analyzing the real incidents."
The NSSF stated that it re-created the study using the same parameters — time period, population, and mechanism — but applied only the raw CDC data. The results, the foundation claims, contradict the study's conclusions.
"Rebuilding the data set using the same time, population, and mechanism parameters established by the authors using CDC's data tells a different story entirely," the NSSF stated.
According to the NSSF, the eight states labeled "Strict" by the study — California, New York, Maryland, Rhode Island, Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey — on average experienced higher unadjusted adolescent firearm mortality than the 11 "Permissive" and 30 "Most Permissive" states.
NSSF defended the firearm industry's safety record, citing its longstanding efforts to keep guns away from children and unauthorized users.
"The firearm industry isn't deterred or distracted by biased studies that push political narratives," the foundation said. "For decades, the firearm industry has brought forward effective and proven firearm safety initiatives to keep firearms beyond the reach of those who should never have them. That includes unsupervised children."
The disagreement underscores an ongoing national debate over the role of firearm legislation in curbing gun-related deaths among children and teens. Both sides agree on the urgency of reducing youth firearm deaths, but they continue to differ on the methods and the data used to shape policy solutions.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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