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As the pandemic spread across the United States in 2020, the number of children who were killed rose precipitously, as did the number injured by firearms, scientists reported in two studies on Monday. A majority of the homicides were among Black children, and almost half were among children in the southern United States. Each of those groups also accounted for most of the children brought to pediatric hospitals with gun injuries. (Rabin, 12/19)

The incidence of firearm injuries among children in the U.S. rose sharply in the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis of data from 49 children’s hospitals. The analysis, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, showed that at least 2,759 children age 17 and younger were treated at hospitals for gun-related injuries between April 2020 and December 2021. That figure is more than 50% above the figure for the corresponding 21-month period in 2018 and 2019. (Mosbergen, 12/19)

A federal judge has blocked a California gun law that emulated a controversial Texas abortion measure — and which was intended to provoke a court fight. The injunction from Judge Roger Benitez sets California’s law, which enables private citizens to sue manufacturers of illegal guns, on a potential path to the U.S. Supreme Court. That could set up a test of both laws — an outcome that California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sought. (White, 12/19)

Bullets had pierced Eva Mireles’ chest as she tried to shield students from a gunman’s semiautomatic rifle. But the fourth grade teacher at Robb Elementary was still conscious when police carried her out of classroom 112 and through a hallway crowded with dead and dying victims. “You’re fine. You’re fine,” said her husband, Uvalde school district police officer Ruben Ruiz, who had been frantically trying to rescue her since the attack began. (Despart, Kriel, Serrano, Lee, Hernandez, Cahlan, Piper and Garcia, 12/20)