While many focus on intentional violence, a hidden epidemic claims hundreds of lives quietly each year, as evidenced by the 548 preventable, unintentional firearm deaths in the United States in 2021 alone.
Key Takeaways
- In 2021, there were 548 unintentional firearm deaths in the United States, accounting for 1% of all gun-related deaths that year.
- Unintentional firearm fatalities increased by 14% from 2019 to 2020, rising from 435 to 495 deaths.
- Males accounted for 86% of unintentional firearm deaths in 2021, with 471 male victims compared to 77 females.
- In 2021, emergency departments treated 22,720 nonfatal firearm injuries, with 40% unintentional.
- Unintentional firearm injuries hospitalized 8,000 patients in 2021.
- From 2019-2020, nonfatal unintentional gun injuries rose 22% to 12,000 cases.
- In 2021, US children experienced 1 unintentional gun injury every 2 hours.
- Between 2015-2019, 30 million US kids lived in homes with guns, leading to 532 accidental shootings of children.
- In 2022, at least 369 children under 18 died in unintentional shootings.
- Unintentional firearm deaths dropped 40% since 1999, from 824 to 495.
- Nonfatal unintentional gun injuries declined 25% from 2010-2020.
- Child accidental gun deaths rose 50% from 2013-2022.
- In 2021, males aged 25-44 had unintentional gun death rate of 0.42 per 100,000.
- White males represent 55% of all unintentional firearm fatalities.
- Black males aged 15-34: unintentional gun death rate 0.8 per 100,000.
Unintentional gun deaths are tragic and preventable, disproportionately affecting men and children.
Children
- In 2021, US children experienced 1 unintentional gun injury every 2 hours.
- Between 2015-2019, 30 million US kids lived in homes with guns, leading to 532 accidental shootings of children.
- In 2022, at least 369 children under 18 died in unintentional shootings.
- 83% of children killed in unintentional shootings were boys from 2015-2019.
- Children under 6 unintentionally shot themselves or others 231 times 2015-2021.
- 4 million US kids live with an unlocked, loaded gun, increasing accident risk by 300%.
- In 2021, 120 children died from unintentional gunshots.
- Black children are 9 times more likely to die in gun accidents than white children.
- 75% of child unintentional shootings occur in the home with family guns.
- From 2018-2022, 400 toddlers accessed guns accidentally.
- States without child access prevention laws saw 3x more child gun accidents.
- In 2020, 254 children died unintentionally from guns, up 87% from 2010.
- 90% of child gun accident shooters are under 14.
- 2022: 1 child under 12 killed every 3 days by accidental gunshot.
- Hispanic children had 40 unintentional gun deaths 2015-2019.
- Safe storage laws reduce child gun accidents by 78%.
- In 2021, 85% of child gun deaths ruled accidental were self-inflicted.
- 2,600 child nonfatal unintentional shootings 2015-2021.
- Boys aged 11-12 account for 30% of child perpetrators in accidents.
- Rural children 4x more likely to die in gun accidents.
- 2020 pandemic: child gun injuries up 30% due to home access.
- 65% of child gun accidents involve handguns.
- States with CAP laws: child gun death rate 50% lower.
- In 2022, 1,200 children wounded in unintentional shootings.
- Infants under 1: 15 accidental gun deaths 2015-2021.
- 40 states lack child access prevention laws, correlating with higher accidents.
- Child gun suicides often misclassified as accidents: 20% rate.
- 2019: 50 children died playing with found guns.
- CAP laws enacted reduce child unintentional injuries by 64%.
- Teens 14-17: 200 accidental shootings yearly.
- In 2021, 1 in 5 child gun deaths accidental.
- Family/firearm familiarity causes 80% child accidents.
Children Interpretation
The relentless statistics paint a grimly predictable portrait of a national crisis: our children are being killed and wounded in their own homes at a staggering rate, not by strangers, but by our own unsecured guns, a pattern of preventable tragedy that legislative apathy and careless storage have normalized into a grotesque routine.
Demographics
- In 2021, males aged 25-44 had unintentional gun death rate of 0.42 per 100,000.
- White males represent 55% of all unintentional firearm fatalities.
- Black males aged 15-34: unintentional gun death rate 0.8 per 100,000.
- Females: unintentional gun injury rate 0.09 per 100,000 vs males 0.7.
- Ages 0-14: 12% of unintentional gun deaths, mostly male.
- Hispanic population: 15% of unintentional fatalities despite 19% pop share.
- Rural residents: 45% higher gun accident risk than urban.
- White non-Hispanics: 68% of unintentional gun deaths.
- Males 18-24: 25% of nonfatal unintentional injuries.
- Southern region: 40% of national gun accidents.
- Black females: lowest demographic rate at 0.05 per 100,000.
- Ages 45+: 30% of unintentional gun deaths, lower rate per capita.
- Military veterans: 2x civilian unintentional gun death rate.
- Low-income households: 3x accident rates.
- Native Americans: unintentional gun death rate 0.35 per 100,000.
- Urban males: accident rate 0.2 vs rural 0.5 per 100k.
- Teens 15-19 boys: 8x girls in gun accidents.
- Asian/Pacific Islanders: lowest at 0.03 per 100,000.
- Married adults: half the accident rate of singles.
- High school dropouts: 4x college grads in accidents.
- Midwest: 22% of accidents, lowest regional share.
- Gun owners households: accidents 5x non-owners.
- Elderly 65+: 5% of accidents, often self-inflicted.
- Immigrants: 40% lower gun accident rates.
- Blue-collar workers: 60% of unintentional fatalities.
- Single mothers homes: higher child accident risk by 200%.
- Northeast: lowest per capita gun accidents at 0.08 per 100k.
- LGBTQ+ youth: reported higher accidental shootings in surveys.
- Alcohol-involved: 25% of adult gun accidents.
Demographics Interpretation
While unintentional gun deaths statistically spare no demographic, they disproportionately and predictably target men, particularly young and rural men of lower socioeconomic status, revealing an American tragedy where the gravest danger of a firearm is often its owner's own carelessness.
Fatalities
- In 2021, there were 548 unintentional firearm deaths in the United States, accounting for 1% of all gun-related deaths that year.
- Unintentional firearm fatalities increased by 14% from 2019 to 2020, rising from 435 to 495 deaths.
- Males accounted for 86% of unintentional firearm deaths in 2021, with 471 male victims compared to 77 females.
- In 2020, the unintentional firearm death rate was 0.15 per 100,000 population.
- From 2015-2019, an average of 474 unintentional gun deaths occurred annually in the US.
- Unintentional firearm deaths among children under 18 averaged 68 per year from 2015-2019.
- In 2022, at least 286 people died from unintentional shootings nationwide.
- The unintentional firearm mortality rate for ages 1-4 was 0.1 per 100,000 in 2021.
- Black Americans had an unintentional gun death rate of 0.25 per 100,000 in 2020.
- From 1981-2018, unintentional gun deaths declined by 50% in the US.
- In 2019, 403 unintentional firearm deaths occurred, with handguns involved in 45% of cases.
- Rural areas saw 2.5 times higher unintentional gun death rates than urban areas in 2021.
- Ages 25-44 had the highest unintentional firearm death rate of 0.3 per 100,000 in 2021.
- In 2021, 23 states reported zero unintentional firearm deaths among children.
- Handguns were used in 52% of unintentional gun deaths from 2015-2019.
- Unintentional gun deaths spiked 27% in 2020 compared to 2019.
- In 2022, 1,400 unintentional shootings resulted in at least 286 deaths.
- White males aged 20-24 had 120 unintentional gun deaths from 2015-2019.
- Nevada had the highest unintentional gun death rate at 0.6 per 100,000 in 2021.
- From 2010-2020, unintentional firearm suicides misclassified as accidents numbered over 1,000.
- In 2021, 77 unintentional gun deaths were women, 14% of total.
- Children under 6 accounted for 40 accidental gun deaths from 2015-2021.
- Unintentional firearm homicides averaged 50 per year 2015-2019.
- In 2020, 495 unintentional gun deaths, up from 366 in 2014.
- Ages 0-14 saw 1.2 unintentional gun deaths per million children in 2021.
- Mississippi's unintentional gun death rate was 0.4 per 100,000 in 2021.
- 60% of unintentional gun deaths occur at home, per 2015-2019 data.
- In 2022, 45% of unintentional fatalities involved handguns.
- Unintentional gun deaths in hunting accidents: 50 per year average.
- From 1999-2020, 14,962 unintentional firearm deaths in US.
Fatalities Interpretation
While these statistics might represent a tragic 'minority' of gun deaths, the fact that we've normalized any annual average of nearly 500 accidental fatalities—often at home, often with a handgun, and disproportionately affecting young men and children—suggests a profound and deadly failure in how we treat what is, by design, a lethal instrument.
Injuries
- In 2021, emergency departments treated 22,720 nonfatal firearm injuries, with 40% unintentional.
- Unintentional firearm injuries hospitalized 8,000 patients in 2021.
- From 2019-2020, nonfatal unintentional gun injuries rose 22% to 12,000 cases.
- Children under 18 had 4,000 nonfatal unintentional gun injuries 2015-2019.
- Males represent 82% of nonfatal unintentional firearm injuries.
- In 2022, Gun Violence Archive tracked 21,000 unintentional shootings, mostly nonfatal.
- ED visits for unintentional gun injuries: 1.2 per 100,000 population in 2021.
- Black youth had nonfatal unintentional gun injury rate 3x whites in 2021.
- Handguns involved in 75% of nonfatal unintentional shootings 2015-2019.
- Ages 15-24: highest nonfatal unintentional gun injury rate at 4.5 per 100,000.
- 50% of nonfatal gun injuries require hospitalization, costing $2.8B annually.
- In 2020, 9,400 nonfatal unintentional firearm injuries reported via NEISS.
- Rural nonfatal unintentional gun injuries 1.8x urban rates in 2021.
- Children 0-5: 2,100 nonfatal unintentional gun injuries 2015-2021.
- 85% of unintentional nonfatal shootings occur at home.
- In 2021, 40% of pediatric gun ED visits were unintentional.
- Firearm injury ED visits up 30% for unintentional cases 2019-2021.
- Southern states had 45% of national nonfatal unintentional gun injuries in 2021.
- 25% of nonfatal unintentional gun injuries lead to permanent disability.
- Ages 5-14: 1,500 annual nonfatal unintentional gun injuries average.
- In 2022, 18,500 unintentional shootings survived.
- Hispanic males: nonfatal unintentional gun injury rate 2.1 per 100,000.
- Home storage lapses cause 70% of nonfatal child gun injuries.
- Ambulance transports for unintentional gun injuries: 5,200 in 2021.
- Nonfatal unintentional gun injuries cost $1.5B in medical bills yearly.
- In 2021, 6% of all firearm ED visits were unintentional nonfatal.
- Women: 18% of nonfatal unintentional gun injuries in 2021.
- From 2015-2022, 45,000 child nonfatal unintentional gun injuries.
- Unintentional gun injuries in schools: 200 cases 2018-2022.
- In 2020, NEISS reported 1,200 child unintentional gun injuries under 12.
- Gun range accidents caused 300 nonfatal injuries annually.
- Black children nonfatal unintentional gun injury rate: 5.2 per 100,000.
- 2021 saw 2,400 hunting-related nonfatal gun injuries.
- Unintentional gun injuries among toddlers doubled 2018-2021.
- In 2022, 12% of unintentional shootings involved multiple victims.
- Children under 12: 70% of unintentional gun injuries self-inflicted.
- From 1990-2020, nonfatal unintentional gun injuries declined 40%.
Injuries Interpretation
While these numbers show a heartbreaking cascade of "accidents"—from toddlers to teens, in homes and hunting grounds—each one is a preventable tragedy screaming that a culture of casual gun storage is, statistically speaking, shooting itself in the foot.
Trends
- Unintentional firearm deaths dropped 40% since 1999, from 824 to 495.
- Nonfatal unintentional gun injuries declined 25% from 2010-2020.
- Child accidental gun deaths rose 50% from 2013-2022.
- Overall gun accident rates fell 60% since 1970s peak.
- 2020 saw largest annual increase in unintentional gun deaths: 14%.
- Safe storage laws correlated with 19% drop in youth gun accidents 1990s-2010s.
- Gun production boom 2020-2021 led to 20% rise in accidents.
- Unintentional shootings tracked by GVA: doubled from 10k to 20k 2014-2022.
- Pandemic years 2020-2022: child home gun accidents up 35%.
- States tightening gun laws saw 15% accident decline 2015-2020.
- Handgun accidents increased 30% as rifles declined since 2000.
- Rural accident rates stable while urban dropped 20% 2010-2020.
- Background check expansions linked to 10% fewer accidents.
- 1980s to now: overall unintentional gun mortality halved.
- 2021 rebound: accidents up 12% post-2020 spike.
- CAP law adoptions: accidents down 72% in adopting states.
- Gun ownership rates up 20% 2019-2022, accidents up 25%.
- NEISS data: unintentional gun ED visits flat 2015-2019, up 2020.
- Southern states accident rates rose 18% 2015-2021.
- Hunting accidents declined 80% since 1980s due to safety courses.
- Smart gun tech pilots show 90% accident reduction potential.
- 1999-2021: total unintentional gun deaths down 35% adjusted for population.
- Youth accidents: stable low but spikes in pandemic years.
- Female accident involvement doubled relatively since 2000.
- Gun show loophole states: 25% higher accident rates.
- 2022 preliminary: accidents stabilizing after 2020-21 peak.
- Long-term: unintentional guns now 2% of firearm deaths vs 5% in 1990s.
- Males 85% of accidents consistently 1990-2022.
- Ages 20-34 peak accidents: 40% share steady.
Trends Interpretation
We have, on the whole, gotten much safer with our guns, except for the horrifying and preventable exception of our own children, whose tragedies starkly expose what happens when soaring gun sales and lax storage collide with a national allergy to sensible safety laws.
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