TABLE 9. Number and percentage* of unintentional firearm deaths, by contexts and circumstances of injury — National Violent Death Reporting System, 32 states,^† 2016.

Characteristic	No. (%)
Context of injury
Playing with gun	93 (34.7)
Showing gun to others	33 (12.3)
Cleaning gun	27 (10.1)
Hunting	21 (7.8)
Loading/unloading gun	11 (4.1)
Target shooting	7 (2.6)
Celebratory firing	0 (0.0)
Other context of injury	71 (26.5)
Circumstance of injury
Unintentionally pulled trigger	63 (23.5)
Thought gun was unloaded	24 (9.0)
Thought unloaded/magazine disengaged	16 (6.0)
Gun was dropped	15 (5.6)
Gun fired due to defect or malfunction	10 (3.7)
Gun was mistaken for a toy	8 (3.0)
Gun fired while holstering/unholstering	6 (2.2)
Thought gun safety was engaged	5 (1.9)
Bullet ricocheted	3 (1.1)
Gun fired while handling safety/lock	1 (<1.0)
Other mechanism of injury	63 (23.5)
Total§	268 (90.8)

* Percentages might exceed 100% because one or more circumstances could have been known per death; therefore, number and percentage are reported when the number of deaths is <5 because no particular circumstance identifies a single death.

^† Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Washington collected data on ≥80% of violent deaths in the state, in accordance with requirements under which the state was funded.

^§ Circumstances were unknown for 27 decedents; total no. of unintentional firearm decedents = 295.