Preventable tragedies: findings from the #NotAnAccident index of unintentional shootings by children

Cannon, Ashley D.; Reese, Kate; Tetens, Paige; Fingar, Kathryn R.

doi:10.1186/s40621-023-00464-3

Injury Epidemiology

Table 1 Characteristics of unintentional shooting incidents by children, 2015–2021

From: Preventable tragedies: findings from the #NotAnAccident index of unintentional shootings by children

Characteristic	Total		Shooter’s age								Shooter’s gender
	Total		0–5		6–13		14–17		Unknown		Male		Female		Unknown
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Total incidents	2448	100.0	763	31.2	596	24.3	894	36.5	195	8.0	1993	81.4	202	8.3	253	10.3
Total victims and mean number per incident	2529	1.03	784	1.03	610	1.02	923	1.03	212	1.09^a	2044	1.03	215	1.06^a	270	1.07^a
Killed	926	0.38	287	0.38	228	0.38	356	0.40	55	0.28^a	776	0.39	69	0.34	81	0.32^a
Wounded	1603	0.65	497	0.65	382	0.64	567	0.63	157	0.81^a	1268	0.64	146	0.72^a	189	0.75^a
Location
Home	1749	71.4	629	82.4	469	78.7	528	59.1^b	123	63.1^b	1445	72.5	152	75.2	152	60.1^b
Car	193	7.9	78	10.2	33	5.5^b	71	7.9	11	5.6^b	156	7.8	17	8.4	20	7.9
Public place	138	5.6	18	2.4	21	3.5	89	10.0^b	10	5.1^b	116	5.8	9	4.5	13	5.1
Hunting, target shooting	82	3.3	2	0.3	31	5.2^b	43	4.8^b	6	3.1^b	70	3.5	6	3.0	6	2.4
Other^c	28	1.1	6	0.8	9	1.5	12	1.3	1	0.5	22	1.1	2	1.0	4	1.6
Unknown	258	10.5	30	3.9	33	5.5	151	16.9^b	44	22.6^b	184	9.2	16	7.9	58	22.9^b
Type of gun
Handgun	1298	53.0	485	63.6	308	51.7^b	445	49.8^b	60	30.8^b	1129	56.6	107	53.0	62	24.5^b
Rifle	108	4.4	11	1.4	46	7.7^b	42	4.7^b	9	4.6^b	92	4.6	5	2.5	11	4.3
Shotgun	99	4.0	8	1.0	38	6.4^b	45	5.0^b	8	4.1^b	84	4.2	6	3.0	9	3.6
Other^d	17	0.7	3	0.4	6	1.0	7	0.8	1	0.5	11	0.6	5	2.5^b	1	0.4
Unknown	926	37.8	256	33.6	198	33.2	355	39.7^b	117	60.0^b	677	34.0	79	39.1	170	67.2^b
Shooting type
Shot themselves	1195	48.8	562	73.7	258	43.3^b	350	39.1^b	25	12.8^b	1026	51.5	124	61.4^b	45	17.8^b
Shot someone else	1156	47.2	183	24.0	326	54.7^b	521	58.3^b	126	64.6^b	922	46.3	69	34.2^b	165	65.2^b
Shot themselves and someone else	44	1.8	15	2.0	7	1.2	16	1.8	6	3.1	30	1.5	7	3.5^b	7	2.8
Unknown	53	2.2	3	0.4	5	0.8	7	0.8	38	19.5^b	15	0.8	2	1.0	36	14.2^b
Victim’s age years^e
Mean and SD	10.9	8.1	5.4	7.3	10.6^a	7.1	15.8^a	5.5	11.5^a	9.8	11.0	8.0	9.8^a	8.1	10.9	9.0
Victim’s age years^e
0–5	786	31.1	672	85.7	62	10.2^b	15	1.6^b	37	17.5^b	624	30.5	90	41.9^c	72	26.7
6–13	684	27.0	43	5.5	468	76.7^b	103	11.2^b	70	33.0^b	541	26.5	58	27.0	85	31.5^b
14–17	794	31.4	1	0.1	49	8.0^b	700	75.8^b	44	20.8^b	685	33.5	42	19.5^b	67	24.8^b
< 18, age unknown	46	1.8	0	0.0	2	0.3	2	0.2	42	19.8^b	26	1.3	4	1.9	16	5.9^b
18 and older	194	7.7	62	7.9	27	4.4^b	90	9.8	15	7.1	149	7.3	20	9.3	25	9.3
Unknown	25	1.0	6	0.8	2	0.3	13	1.4	4	1.9	19	0.9	1	0.5	5	1.9
Victim's gender^e
Male	1925	76.1	579	73.9	463	75.9	751	81.4^b	132	62.3^b	1758	86.0	46	21.4^b	121	44.8^b
Female	476	18.8	166	21.2	135	22.1	133	14.4^b	42	19.8	266	13.0	166	77.2^b	44	16.3
Unknown	128	5.1	39	5.0	12	2.0^b	39	4.2	38	17.9^b	20	1.0	3	1.4	105	38.9^b

SD standard deviation
Notes: Columns contain numbers and percentages unless otherwise noted. Mean age of the shooters was 10.0 (SD = 5.5) and ranged from 1 to 17 years old. Means, standard deviations, and percentages are rounded to the 10th or 100th decimal place
^aP-value < 0.05 from t-test for difference in means between this shooter age/gender group and shooters 0–5 years old/males
^bP-value < 0.05 from chi-square test for difference in percentages between this shooter age/gender group and shooters 0–5 years old/males
^cOther locations include, but are not limited to, buses, daycares, woods, communal areas of apartment buildings, abandoned homes, and mobile homes
^dOther gun types include assault-style weapons (e.g., AR-15), homemade unserialized “ghost guns,” and black powder guns
^eBased on total victims including those who were shot by themselves or another person. The sum of victims will add to more than the total number of incidents. The age of victims ranged from a 1-month-old baby boy to a 77-year-old man
Source: Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. #NotAnAccident Index, 2015–2021

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