Children, Teens, and Guns By the Numbers
“Every day, 22 children and teens (1-17) are shot in the United States. This includes 8 children and teens who are unintentionally shot in instances of family fire — a shooting involving an improperly stored or misused gun found in the home resulting in injury or death.”
“Adolescents are at a higher risk for suicide when there is a gun in the home. Suicide rates in this population are four times higher than for kids who live in homes without guns. In the past decade, 40% of the suicides committed by kids and teens involved guns. Nine out of 10 of these suicides were with guns that the victims accessed at their own homes or from a relative’s home.”
“An estimated 54 percent of gun owners don’t lock all of their guns securely.”
“In incidents of gunfire on school grounds, up to 80 percent of shooters under the age of 18 got the gun from their home or the homes of friends or relatives.”
“Every year, nearly 350 children under the age of 18 unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else.”
“4.6 million children in the US live in a home with at least one unlocked and loaded firearm.”
“Households that lock both guns and ammunition are associated with an 85% risk reduction for unintentional gun injury among children compared to those that locked neither.”
“Households that lock both guns and ammunition are associated with a 78% risk reduction for self-inflicted gun injury among children compared to those that locked neither.”