National Vital Statistics Reports. Gun death disproportionately affects young people. Health United States 1996-97. Hyattsville Maryland, National Center for Health Statistics, 1997. Accessed by Join Together December, 1998.
Children are most often the victims of unintentional firearm deaths.
In 1996, nearly 400 children age 19 and younger died in the U.S. from unintentional shootings. Accessed by Join Together, December 1998. The firearm death rate among U.S. children 14 and younger is nearly 12 times higher than the combined rate in 25 other industrialized nations. Rates of homicide, suicide, and firearm related death among children - 26 industrialized countries. This accounts for over 8,700 young male lives lost to gun-related injury.