In a new report, the American Academy of Pediatrics finds that each year 1,300 children die and almost 5,800 children in the U.S. receive medical treatment due to gun-related injuries. Twenty-one percent of those cases are accidental, mainly due to playing with a gun.
This makes firearm-related deaths the second leading cause of injury-related deaths among U.S. children ages 1 to 17.
The report also found that 91 percent of firearm deaths among all high-income countries worldwide occur in the United States.
A total of 16 states were singled out for having the highest rates of firearm homicide. In the Northeast, Connecticut, Maryland, and Pennsylvania were on the list.
The report calls pediatric firearm injuries a public health issue that still needs to be better understood.
