Accidental Gun Fatalities

Myth: Accidental gun fatalities are a serious problem

Fact: Firearm misuse causes only a small number of accidental deaths in the U.S.270 For example, compared to accidental death from firearms, you are:
• Four times more likely to burn to death or drown
• 17 times more likely to be poisoned
• 19 times more likely to fall
• And 53 times more likely to die in an automobile accident

Fact: In 2001, there were only 65 accidental gun deaths for children under age 13. About 11 times as many children die from drowning.

Fact: In 1993, there were 1,334 drownings and 528 firearm-related accidental deaths
from ages 0-19. Firearms outnumber pools by a factor of over 30:1. Thus, the risk of drowning in a pool is nearly 100 times higher than from a firearm-related accident for
everyone, and nearly 500 times for ages 0-5.

Fact: Medical mistakes kill 400,000 people per year – the equivalent of almost three fully loaded Boeing 747 jet crashes per day – or about 286 times the rate of all accidental firearm deaths.273 This translates into 1 in 6 doctors causing an accidental death, and 1 in 56,666 gun owners doing the same.

Fact: Only 3% of gun deaths are from accidents, and some insurance investigations indicate that many of these may not be accidents after all.

Fact: Around 2,000 patients each year – six per day – are accidentally killed or injured in hospitals by registered nurses.

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