Unintentional Firearm-Related Deaths

1. Kids Shooting Kids: Stories From Across the Nation of Unintentional Shootings Among Children and Youth, Violence Policy Center, Washington, DC, March 1997, 277 pages.

   A nine-month review by the Violence Policy Center of newspaper articles from across the nation reporting unintentional shootings among children and youth revealed striking patterns in the way children and youth kill or injure one another. This study describes these patterns and discusses how existing public health research helps explain them. Copies of more than 200 news clips of kids shooting kids broken out by state are included in the study. Also included with the study are charts that rank rates of unintentional firearm-related deaths by state.

   This publication is $25.00, including shipping and handling. Call the Violence Policy Center (VPC) at (202) 822-8200 or write to the VPC at 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 825, Washington, DC 20036. A copy of the VPC publications list will be included upon request.

2. When Children Shoot Children: 88 Unintended Deaths in California, Garen Wintemute, MD, MPH; Stephen P. Teret, JD, MPH; et al, JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), Vol. 257, No. 22, June 12, 1987, pp. 3107-3109.

   Key Statistics: A study of 88 unintentional shooting deaths among children in California revealed that of incidents involving a child shooting another child (53 cases) the shooter was another family member, usually a sibling, in 21 cases (40 percent). In nearly a quarter of the cases (21 cases or 24 percent) the records contained a clear statement that the child shooting the gun did not know it was loaded. The study revealed that confusion over whether a gun was loaded was not restricted to young children�in 76 percent (16) of the 21 cases the shooter was 10 years of age or older.

   This study describes the 88 unintentional firearm deaths occurring during the years 1977 through 1983 in which both the shooter and the victim were California children 14 years of age or younger.