An analysis of 24,000 gun-related deaths of children 19 years and younger that died from 1999 to 2006 has revealed interesting results. The deaths included roughly 15,000 homicides, 7,000 suicides and 1400 accidental shooting deaths. In sorting the threshold for urban and rural children, researchers divided all of the deaths by county. Then they sorted those in counties of more that 1 million people and those with less than 2500 and those made up the urban-rural dichotomy.
What they found is a rate of about 4 deaths per 100,000 children. This percentage is similar to that of adults. Interestingly though children in rural and urban areas were affected equally by gun violence. Children in urban areas were affected by murders to a greater degree while rural children more often face gun suicides and accidental gun death from their peers.
This analysis certainly challenges the notion that children in cities face far more danger from gun violence than their peers in rural areas. Prevention should be seen as an issue in both areas.
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