Abstract
BackgroundChildren in the United States are at far greater risk of unintentional gun death than children in other developed countries. The relative figures may even be worse since the estimates for US child unintentional gun deaths are derived from the Vital Statistics which have been shown to be underestimates. No study has used a national data system to investigate the circumstances of fatal child gun accidents.MethodsWe use data from the National Violent Death Reporting System for 16 states from 2005 to 2012. We examine the cases of unintentional gun death involving children in five age groups, 0–1, 2–4, 5–10, 11–12, and 13–14, where the child was either the victim or shooter.ResultsWe estimate that there were 110 unintentional firearm deaths to children 0–14 annually in the U.S. during this 8 year time period, 80 % higher than reported by the Vital Statistics. The victims were predominantly male (81 %). Approximately two thirds of the shootings were other-inflicted, and in 97 % of those cases the shooter was a male. The typical shooter in other-inflicted shootings is a brother or friend. Indeed, children aged 11–14 are often shot in the home of friends. The large majority of children are shot by other children or by themselves. It is rare for a child accidentally to be shot by or accidentally to shoot an adult who is not a family member.ConclusionsOur study highlights the fact that unintentional firearm death to children is a problem of children shooting children and thus the importance of keeping guns away from children, their siblings, and their friends.
Highlights
Children in the United States are at far greater risk of unintentional gun death than children in other developed countries
It has been shown that many unintended shootings of children in the U.S are classified in the Vital Statistics as homicides (Schaechter et al 2003; Barber and Hemenway 2011; Luo and McIntire 2013)
The authors of this paper reviewed every violent death report that was classified as an unintentional firearm death involving a child aged 0–14 as either victim or shooter
Summary
Children in the United States are at far greater risk of unintentional gun death than children in other developed countries. No study has used a national data system to investigate the circumstances of fatal child gun accidents. Children ages 0–14 in the United States have far higher rates of unintentional firearm death than children in other developed countries—on the order of 10 times higher (Richardson and Hemenway 2011). This ratio is most likely an underestimate since the US data it relies upon come from death certificates. A study examining the accuracy of data systems for unintentional firearm fatalities found the Vital Statistics system missed 38 % of the true cases NVDRS has another great advantage over Vitals data in that it provides more complete information, including a narrative of the event
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