Children Fatality Task Force aims for stricter tobacco laws, gun safety

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- The legislative study commission, the North Carolina Child Fatality Task Force, just released its annual report. It showed that in 2023, more than 1,400 children 17 and younger died, a slight decrease from the year before.

More than half of those deaths were for children younger than 1 and North Carolina had the 10th highest infant mortality rate in the country.

The report additionally noted that the youth suicide rate has roughly doubled in the past 20 years, and in 2023, access to firearms was the most common means, used 44% of the time.

The task force is asking for financial support for NC Safe Firearm Initiative and stricter state storage laws.

The General Assembly passed legislation in 2023 for the statewide initiative and agreed to fund it.

Executive Director Kella Hatcher said funding has come from a different source.

"The Department of Public Safety has managed to find some temporary funding to get this off the ground and since then, has managed to keep it going through temporary funding," she said. "That can't go on forever."

ABC11 reached out to Senate Leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall's office to see whether funding would be included in the upcoming budget. We are waiting for a response.

There is a gray area, and the task force wants it fixed. According to the federal mandate, you have to be 21 or older to buy tobacco products. North Carolina law, however, states the minimum age still is 18.

New to this year's annual report, the task force is urging lawmakers to put stricter laws on the books for tobacco and nicotine sales, require permits for tobacco retailers, and also start regulating how cannabis products are sold.

Hatcher says right now, these items are packaged in attractive forms for children.

"Cookies, candies, drinks," said Hatcher.

The report said, "unlike some other states, there is no minimum age for the purchase of intoxicating cannabis products in North Carolina and no safety regulations are in place."

That could lead to scary moments for some families.

"We've seen a surge in that rate of emergency department visits among kids for THC ingestion," said Hatcher.