Firearm Accident Rates in the US?

[gorfle]

Does anyone have any statistical data regarding the Firearm Accident Rate in the US? Note this is not the same thing as FATAL Firearm accident rate, which has been posted here before.

An argument, a good one, has been made that the fatality rate for firearm accidents could simply be a result of better medical access and technology.

So it would be interesting to know the overall accident rate, including just injuries. I have been unable to locate such data on the web.

[existentialist]

1. Can't help with statistics, but

an incident has just been reported in the Rapid City Journal where a man who had just purchased a .44 caliber handgun accidentally discharged it in a trailer court.

No one was hit, but three trailers (his own and two others) were damaged.

This happened two days ago.

[onehandle]

2. An old friend of mine has accidentally shot himself on two occasions.

Both times grazing the same leg. He has two parallel short red streaks on the side of his leg.

He used first aid and cleaned them up himself. No report.

My guess is that a lot of accidents go unreported.

Additionally, he has two different brothers who fell out of deer stands and sustained spinal injuries.

No, they are not the smartest people.

[Duckhunter935]

3. Does anyone have the vehicle accident rate

Not dealing with fatalities but any incedent involving a motorized vehicle. That would be around the same thing trying to skew statistics to make things seem bad.

[gorfle]

5. They have a valid point.

The firearm accident fatality rate is a chart often posted here that lists the fatality rate for firearm accidents since 1903.

Obviously, medical, transport, and communications technologies have advanced greatly since 1903, and by those things alone one could expect a decline in accident-related fatalities of any kind.

Just think what kind of impact cellular phones alone must have on the survivability of trauma, by virtue of providing nearly instantaneous alerting of authorities and medical personnel in the event of an accident.

Just as with automobiles, I would guess that the accident fatality rate may change independently of the rate of actual accidents, given advances in safe automobile design and the advancement of medical, transport, and communications technologies which enable help to be administered faster than in years gone by.

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. And how does it affect the stats that cell phones get quick response

to the accidents they cause?

[depakid]

4. You can probably extrapolate them from CDC mortality tables-

though as I recall, unintentional deaths (and/or injuries) are included in separate data sources depending on age.

Make sense because there re different hazards for children, teens and adults. Kids suffocate, for example.

[slackmaster]

6. Roll your own query at WISQARS for both fatal and non-fatal injuries

http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html

[gorfle]

8. Great link, thanks.

I had forgotten about that link.

According to WISQUARS,

From 2001, to 2008, the following was reported:

Unintentional Firearm Gunshot Nonfatal Injuries and Rates per 100,000
2008, United States, All Races, Both Sexes, All Ages
Disposition: All Cases

2001 17,696
2002 17,579
2003 18,941
2004 16,555
2005 15,388
2006 14,678
2007 15,698
2008 17,215

When you graph this you will see that the rate is basically flat, decreasing to it's lowest in 2006 and trending upwards again in 2007 and 2008.

So while it seems we can say that accidental firearm fatalities are steadily declining over the last 100 years, we cannot say that accidental firearm shootings are declining. In fact, from 2006 through 2008, they are trending up wards.

[X_Digger]

9. Now figure out the rate..

(I calculated rate based on US Census Bureau data.)

[gorfle]

10. wisquars provides rate, too.

WISQUARS actually provides the rate also. I just did not include it.

[X_Digger]

11. Ahh gotcha.

I'd love to see a larger graph, that's my only beef with WISQARS, it doesn't go back far enough.