Preventable Tragedies: Findings from the #NotAnAccident Index of Unintentional Shootings by Children

Ashley D. Cannon, MA
Kelsey AB Gastineau, MD

Between 2015 and 2020, 2,949 Americans died from unintentional gun injuries, including 573 children 17 years and younger. In contrast to fatal injuries, little is often known about the perpetrators of unintentional shootings. Approximately 30 million American children live in homes with firearms—up 7 million since 2015. Among these children, 4.6 million live in households with an unsecured firearm. This study sought to assess the scope of unintentional shootings by children 17 and younger in the United States to determine if differences exist by demographics, firearm, injury location, time, or state-level policies.

Demographic and injury data of perpetrators and victims of unintentional shootings by children 17 and younger in the US, from 1/1/2015–12/31/2020 were extracted from the #NotAnAccident Index. The #NotAnAccident Index contains media-report data, which is systematically flagged through Google Alerts, coded and uploaded weekly, and reliability and validity tested quarterly. This database contains data on date, location, victim and shooter demographics, shooting type, deaths and injuries, firearms, and incident summaries. Injury rates are calculated using state of occurrence and US Census data. State gun ownership estimates were obtained from the RAND Corporation. A series of descriptive analyses were conducted to compare across groups.

2,070 unintentional shootings by children resulted in 765 deaths and 1,366 nonfatal gun injuries over six years. The majority of perpetrators (83%, 1,715) and victims (76%, 1,628) were male. The mean age of shooters was 10.2 years (SD 5.5) and victims was 11.2 years (SD 8.1). Children were as likely to shoot themselves (49%, 1,004) as they were to shoot others (48%, 991). Most victims were under 18 years old (91%, 1,932). Shootings most often occurred in or around homes (70%, 1,456). Handguns were accessed in 55% (1,137) of shootings. Shootings occurred most frequently in July (1.12 average incidents per day) and on Saturdays (1.07 average incidents per day). Unintentional shootings by children increased during the COVID-19 pandemic; incidents increased 23%, deaths increased 31%, injuries increased 18%, and total victims increased 22% from March to December 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. States with 50% household gun ownership or greater had four times the number of victims from unintentional shootings by children compared to states with less than 30% gun ownership. Rates of death or injury were higher in states without secure storage laws (0.29–3.57) compared to states with laws (0–1.67).

Unintentional shootings by children are on the rise, but are preventable. Secure firearm storage practices, policies, and education efforts are needed. Gun owners, parents, the medical community, gun and gun storage sellers, and others can play a vital role in preventing unintentional shootings by storing their guns unloaded, locked, and separate from ammunition.

1. The scope of unintentional shootings by children and variations by gender, age, time, location, weapon, and state.
2. The importance of secure firearm storage practices and policies.
3. Policies and programs to prevent unintentional shootings by children.