In the United States approximately 30,000 people die from firearm injuries each year. Many more are wounded. In the mid 1980s, over 3,000 of the dead were children and adolescents aged 1 to 19 years of age.1 In 1989 nearly 4,000 firearm deaths were among children 1-19 years of age, accounting for 12 percent of all deaths in that age group.2 All of these deaths or injuries affect other children because the victims who are killed or wounded are frequently relatives, neighbors, or friends.

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