It's well-known that the United States leads the world in mass
shootings, but mass shootings are relatively rare compared with the
number of Americans shot in incidents that don't make headlines.
Research has shown that someone is shot in America every 4 minutes and 44 seconds, or about 111,000 people every year. A
recent study took a closer look at the most recent data available, from
the 2012 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Healthcare Cost and
Utilization Project Kids' Inpatient Database, which tracks hospital
stays for children.
"The numbers are horrifying," said Silver said, who is giving a presentation about the numbers at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco this week. She found that roughly 16 children a day, or an estimated 5,862 a year, were hospitalized due to firearm injuries in 2012. However, she believes that the total number of children who are shot is much higher.
The data don't include children who die in the emergency room or before
they get to the hospital, nor does it include those who are treated and
released.
These injuries cost $130 million in hospital bills in 2012, an average
of $22,644 per stay. Most of the children were hospitalized for six days
due to the severity of their injuries, and most needed extensive
followup treatment once they were released. In addition to physical
therapy, many need mental health care.
Majority of the children under 15 hospitalized with gunshot wounds were
unintentionally injured and said these accidents could easily have been
prevented if the guns had been locked up.
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