Nearly 1,300 Children Die From Gunshot Wounds In U.S. Each Year, Report Shows

Firearms kill almost 1,300 American youngsters each year, and boys and black children are most often the victims, a U.S. study finds. During the 13-year study, more than half of the gun-related deaths were homicides, while 38 percent were suicides and 6 percent were fatalities from accidental gun injuries, researchers report in Pediatrics. Each year, guns seriously wounded about 5,800 additional kids under 18. “Firearm injuries are a leading cause of death among U.S. children aged 1 to 17 years and contribute substantially each year to premature death, illness and disability of children,” said lead study author Katherine Fowler of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. “About 19 children a day die or are medically treated in an emergency department for a gunshot wound in the U.S.,” Fowler said by email. Although accidental firearm deaths among children declined from 2002 to 2014 and gun-related homicides decreased from 2007 to 2014, suicides surged 60 percent from 2007 to 2014, the analysis of national injury records found. Boys account for 82 percent of all child firearm deaths, and black children have the highest rates of firearm mortality overall due to much higher firearm homicide rates. About four black children out of every 100,000 die from gunshot homicides, ten times higher than the rate for white, Asian or Pacific Islander kids, the study found. “It is important to note that firearm injuries and especially ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news