Unintended shootings in a large metropolitan area: an incident-based analysis

Author: Ismach, R. B. / Reza, A. / Ary, R. / Sampson, T. R. / Bartolomeos, K. / Kellermann, A. L.
Publication: Ann Emerg Med
Topics: Storage
Keywords: child access gun design safe gun handling unintended shooting unintentional firearm injury
Bibliographic information +

The authors evaluated the proportion of unintended shootings that may be prevented by promoting safe storage, safe handling, and/or safer firearm designs in this study that retrospectively identified fatal and nonfatal unintentional shootings in a 5-county metropolitan area between May 1, 1996, and June 30, 2000 and classified the causes of each shooting. Of 216 cases of unintentional firearm injury examined, six were fatal. 25% of shootings involved victims younger than 18 years and handguns were involved in 87% of the incidents. Enough information was available to characterize the incident in 122 cases. The causes of all except six belonged to one or more of three categories: child access (14%), mishandling (74%), and/or deficiencies in firearm design (32%).