TABLE 9. Number and percentage* of unintentional firearm deaths, by context and circumstances of injury — National Violent Death Reporting System, 42 states and the District of Columbia,† 2019.
| Characteristic | No. (%) |
|---|---|
|
Context of injury
| |
| Playing with gun |
116 (39.2) |
| Showing gun to others |
33 (11.1) |
| Cleaning gun |
25 (8.4) |
| Hunting |
21 (7.1) |
| Loading or unloading gun |
18 (6.1) |
| Target shooting |
5 (1.7) |
| Other context of injury |
80 (27.0) |
|
Circumstances of injury
| |
| Unintentionally pulled trigger |
66 (22.3) |
| Thought gun was unloaded |
41 (13.9) |
| Thought unloaded, magazine disengaged |
28 (9.5) |
| Gun was mistaken for a toy |
11 (3.7) |
| Gun was dropped |
9 (3.0) |
| Gun fired due to defect or malfunction |
6 (2.0) |
| Gun fired while holstering |
6 (2.0) |
| Thought gun safety was engaged |
4 (1.4) |
| Bullet ricocheted |
1 (<1.0) |
| Gun fired while handling safety lock |
1 (<1.0) |
| Other mechanism of injury |
73 (24.7) |
| Total§ | 296 (88.4) |
* 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 particular circumstance identifies a single death. Denominator includes those deaths with one or more precipitating circumstances.
† Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Illinois and Pennsylvania collected data on ≥80% of violent deaths in their state, in accordance with requirements under which these states were funded. Data for Illinois are for violent deaths that occurred in 47 counties (Adams, Alexander, Bond, Boone, Brown, Bureau, Champaign, Clay, Cook, DeKalb, Douglas, DuPage, Effingham, Fayette, Fulton, Grundy, Henry, Iroquois, Jackson, Jefferson, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, Lasalle, Livingston, Logan, McDonough, McHenry, McLean, Macoupin, Madison, Menard, Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Putnam, Rock Island, St. Clair, Sangamon, Schuyler, Stark, Tazewell, Vermilion, Wayne, Will, and Winn). Data for Pennsylvania are for violent deaths that occurred in 40 counties (Adams, Allegheny, Armstrong, Berks, Blair, Bradford, Bucks, Cameron, Cambria, Carbon, Centre, Chester, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Dauphin, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, Somerset, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Union, Westmoreland, Wyoming, and York). Data for California are for violent deaths that occurred in 30 counties (Amador, Butte, Colusa, Fresno, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Lassen, Lake, Los Angeles, Marin, Modoc, Mono, Orange, Placer, Sacramento, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Ventura, and Yolo).
§ Circumstances were unknown for 39 decedents; the total number of unintentional firearm decedents = 335.