Shootings kill or injure at least 19 US children each day, with boys, teenagers and blacks most at risk, according to a government study that paints a bleak portrait of persistent violence.
A government study paints a bleak portrait of persistent violence, by showing that at least 19 US children are killed or injured by shootings each day.
Teenagers and blacks are the most vulnerable to this.
The analysis of 2002-14 US data has been publicised as the most comprehensive study on the topic. Although it confirms the previously released information, it underscores why researchers view gun violence as a public health crisis.
The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was compiled by analysing death certificates and emergency room reports, involves children and teens through age 17.
According to the findings published on Monday, June 19, in the journal Pediatrics, the yearly toll is nearly 1,300 deaths and almost 6,000 nonfatal gunshot wounds out of which most of them are intentional. Most deaths result from homicides and suicides, while assaults caused most of the nonfatal injuries.
The annual death rate is nearly 2 out of 100,000 children, the rate is twice the number for blacks. It is also observed that nonfatal gunshot wounds injure almost 8 out of 100,000 kids each year.
From 2007-14, suicides have increased from 325 to 532. The suicide rate increased 60 per cent over those years to 1.6 per 100,000. Relationship failures and problems at school were cited as the reasons for one-third of these kids being depressed.
The same time period also saw the number of homicides fall from 1,038 to 699, the rate dropping by 36 percent to less than 1 per 100,000.
Playing with guns and unintentional firing were the reason for most of the unintentional deaths with most of the victims being bystanders. Among kids up to the age of 10, more than 40% accidently shot themselves.
According to The Associated Press and USA TODAY Network, unintentional shooting deaths may be significantly underreported.
As per the news organisations, during the first six months of 2016, minors died from accidental shootings at their own hands, or at the hands of other children or adults at a pace of one every other day, far more than limited federal statistics indicate.
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 "19 US children are killed or inured in shootings each day, says study")
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