The COVID-19 pandemic and associated rise in pediatric firearm injuries: A multi-institutional study

•In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought much uncertainty to people in the U.S., followed by an unprecedented increase in firearm sales.•In this study, children suffered significantly more firearm injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic and those who lacked certain social determinants of health were at greater risk. Firearm sales in the United States (U.S.) markedly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our objective was to determine if firearm injuries in children were associated with stay-at-home orders (SHO) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We hypothesized there would be an increase in pediatric firearm injuries during SHO. This was a multi institutional, retrospective study of institutional trauma registries. Patients