The hardest thing about hearing a young child has been shot is just how common the tale is.
A new study has found that nearly 19 children a day die from or are treated for a gunshot wound in just the US.
In June alone, a father accidentally shot and killed his nine-year-old in Indiana, a six-year-old accidentally shot and killed a four-year-old, while two girls caught in crossfire were wounded in a shooting while having a picnic at Chicago elementary school.
A day before the study was published, a four-year-old boy accidentally shot himself in the face and died.
‘Accidentally’ is used a lot; around 21 per cent of the children injured were done so unintentionally.
The researchers found that for children under 17, among the deaths 53% were homicides, 38% were suicides, 6% were unintentional, and 3% were related to law enforcement or undetermined.
In terms of injuries, 71% were assault, 21% were unintentional, 5% were related to law enforcement or undetermined, and about 3% were from self-harm.
The study, conducted by Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found that guns seriously wounded about 5,790 children each year in the US and killed on average 1,297.
That means that shootings are now the third-leading cause of death for children in America, following only illnesses and unintentional injuries like car crashes or drowning.
Researchers pointed out this problem was uniquely American, with other children rarely injured or killed by gun in terms of developed countries.
In fact, of all children aged 14 and older who were killed by guns in high-income countries, 90 per cent lived in the US.
The study also found than African-American children had the highest rates of homicide, 10 times the rate of other races, while white and Native American children had the highest rate of suicide.
Since 2007, rates of suicide by gun have risen by 60 per cent.
“The findings were staggering,” Dr. Ruth Abaya, assistant professor of paediatrics in the division of Emergency Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told CBS News.
“Unfortunately,” she added. “Not surprising.
“Their numbers verified a lot of observations we’ve seen in regards to gun violence, gun death and unintentional injury to children over the years. It was very telling.”
