A study has found that guns kill approximately 1,300 children each year in the United States. Every year, over 5,500 children in the United States receive medical treatment in emergency rooms for gun-related injuries. Approximately 21 percent of those injuries are unintentional.
From 2012 to 2014, over 1,200 children in the United States died every year from a gun-related injury according to a new study. The same study included which states in America had the highest number of deaths and injuries to children from gun-related incidents.
Researchers analyzed data from 2002 to 2014 among children involved in gun-related incidents up to 17-years-old. The researchers found that 53 percent of the deaths were homicide, 38 percent were suicides, six percent were unintentional and three percent were related to law enforcement. The researchers found that 71 percent of injuries were assault, 21 percent were unintentional, five percent were related to law enforcement or undetermined and 3 percent were self-harm.
Researchers also found that boys accounted for approximately 80 percent of all gun-related deaths. Approximately 85 percent of boys accounted for gun-related injuries that weren’t fatal. African-American children had the highest rates of gun-related homicides while North American and Native American children had the highest rates of gun-related suicides.
The District of Columbia and Louisiana had the highest rates from gun-related deaths involving children. Many states including Maine, New Hampshire, Delaware and Hawaii had 20 or fewer gun-related deaths involving children.
The highest rates from gun-related homicides involved children across California, Nevada, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio and Michigan.
Most of the suicides involved children that were 10-years-old and older. These suicide deaths were evenly dispersed across the United States. Rates of suicide from guns were higher in rural areas compared to urban areas.
Gun-related homicides increased between 2002 and 2007, but they declined between 2007 and 2014 according to the study.
One child getting injured or dying from gun-related incidents is too many. Researchers suggest keeping an eye out for signs of depression in your child. It’s important to get them the medical help they need if you witness any signs of depression or if they are threatening to harm others or themselves.
If you have a gun, make sure that you keep it away from your children. It’s best that you don’t tell your children that you have a gun in your house. Be sure to keep your gun in a safe place at all times. A safe place should ensure that a child is unable to gain access to it.