For more information on children in poverty, click here . Between 1979 and 1998, nearly 84,000 children and teens were killed by firearms 36,000 more than the number of American battle casualties in the Vietnam war. In 1998, gunfire killed 3,761 children and teens in the United States. That is one child every two and a half hours, and slightly more than 10 children every day. 58 percent of the children killed by gunfire are murdered and 33 percent are suicides.
Guns remain the most common method of suicide for children.
A vast majority of guns involved in self-inflicted and unintentional firearm injuries among children and teens come from the home of the victim, a relative, or friend. The risk of suicide is greater for people living in households with firearms than for people living in a home without guns. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the rate of firearm deaths among children under 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. For more information about children and gun violence, click here . In 1997, close to one million children were confirmed as victims of abuse and neglect.