Most of the 330 gunshot injuries to Massachusetts children (ages 0-14) between 1994 to 1998 would be “invisible” to the public health community without an emergency department surveillance system that captures all gunshot injuries. These younger children were most often injured by a non-powder gun (NPG) NOT a firearm and most were unintentionally shot. These injuries generally require emergency department treatment only, and therefore are not captured by any of the more traditional injury data systems.
Data are from the Weapon Related Injury Surveillance System, a Massachusetts statewide emergency department based surveillance system for all gunshot and violence related stabbing injuries. WRISS data include both firearm and NPG injuries.
Most young gunshot victims are injured with an NPG (77%), are male (86%), live in smaller communities, are unintentionally injured (71%), and are white (75%). Adolescent gunshot victims are also likely to be male (89%), but tend to live in larger cities, are black (40%), and are intentionally shot with a firearm. Although most NPG injuries are unintentional, approximately 25% are violence related.
Differences between young (0-14 years) and older (15-19 years) gunshot victims demand different injury prevention strategies. For younger children and their parents, gun injury prevention activities must address NPG safety. For adolescents, a focus on firearms is appropriate, but the potential use of NPGs as weapons should be recognized. Focused education, enforcement of existing regulations, and engineering changes in the design and manufacture of NPGs should result in a significant decrease in these childhood injuries.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to:
Keywords: Surveillance, Children and Adolescents
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.