Nearly 10 children die each day from gunfire in America, approximately one every two and a half hours. Gunfire killed 3,761 infants, children, and teens in 1998, dropping below 4,000 for the first time since 1988. Although the number of young victims was the lowest in ten years, the death of each one is a tragedy.
Guns remain the most common method of suicide for children.
Accidental shootings accounted for most of the balance of the gun deaths of children. Gun violence is an equal opportunity disaster. Gunfire in our homes, our communities, and in our schools continues to steal young lives and destroy families. Between 1979 and 1998, nearly 84,000 American children and teens were killed by firearms. That is 36,000 more than died in combat in Vietnam.