TABLE 9. Number and percentage* of unintentional firearm injury deaths, by context and circumstances of injury — National Violent Death Reporting System, 48 states and District of Columbia,† 2021.
| Characteristic | No. (%) |
|---|---|
|
Context of injury
| |
| Playing with gun |
204 (44.0) |
| Showing gun to others |
70 (15.1) |
| Hunting |
25 (5.4) |
| Loading or unloading gun |
24 (5.2) |
| Cleaning gun |
19 (4.1) |
| Target shooting |
8 (1.7) |
| Celebratory firing |
2 (<1.0) |
| Other context of injury |
86 (18.5) |
|
Circumstance of injury
| |
| Unintentionally pulled trigger |
110 (23.7) |
| Thought gun was unloaded (not because magazine disengaged) |
49 (10.6) |
| Thought unloaded, magazine disengaged |
44 (9.5) |
| Gun was mistaken for a toy |
36 (7.8) |
| Gun was dropped |
24 (5.2) |
| Thought gun safety was engaged |
15 (3.2) |
| Gun fired due to defect or malfunction |
14 (3.0) |
| Gun fired while holstering |
10 (2.2) |
| Bullet ricocheted |
3 (<1.0) |
| Gun fired while handling safety lock |
1 (<1.0) |
| Other mechanism of injury |
75 (16.2) |
|
Child victim incident characteristic§
| |
| Substance use in victim’s household |
10 (5.9) |
| Previous Child Protective Services report on victim’s household |
4 (2.4) |
| Total¶ | 464 (83.6) |
* Percentages might exceed 100% because one or more circumstances could have been known per death. Number and percentage are reported when the number of deaths is <5 because no specific circumstance identifies a single death. Denominator includes those deaths with one or more precipitating circumstances.
† Includes all U.S. states and District of Columbia, with exception of Florida and Hawaii. Data for California are for violent deaths that occurred in 31 counties (Amador, Butte, Colusa, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Benito, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Ventura, and Yolo). Data for Texas are for violent deaths that occurred in 13 counties (Bell, Bexar, Collin, Dallas, Denton, El Paso, Fort Bend, Harris, Montgomery, Nueces, Tarrant, Travis, and Williamson).
§ Variables in this category apply exclusively to child victims where circumstances were known. Denominator includes decedents aged 0–17 years, n = 170. Circumstances were unknown for 20 child decedents; total unintentional firearm injury deaths in children = 190.
¶ Circumstances were unknown for 91 decedents; total number of unintentional firearm decedents = 555.