Toy Weapon - Toy Weapon Injuries

Toy Weapon Injuries

Averages of four deaths per year, as published by the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission “BB Guns Can Kill,” October 2004, are caused by BB guns and pellet rifles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) even warn people that some of these guns, at close proximity, have capabilities of shooting projectiles such as pellets or BBs at velocities that are similar to actual pistols.

The CDC released a report named “BB and Pellet Gun- Related injuries” Data timed between June 1992 and May 1994:

• A nine-year-old boy was struck by a BB beneath his lower left eyelid after he stepped from behind a board at which other children were shooting.

• A sixteen-year-old sustained a severe mid-brain injury from a self-inflicted combination BB/pellet gunshot wound through the roof of his mouth.

• A nine-year-old incurred a pellet injury to the back of her right ankle after a boy fired a pellet at her from a passing car.

• A ten-year-old sustained injuries to his neck and trachea after being struck by a BB from a gun that had been fired unintentionally.

• A thirteen-year-old was shot in the neck with a BB gun when a friend pulled the trigger, believing the gun was not loaded.

• A sixteen-year-old boy sustained a penetrating injury to his right eye after being struck by a BB that ricocheted from a gun fired by a friend.

The report also estimated more than 47,000 children and teenagers were injured by BB or pellet wounds in emergency rooms and hospitals.

• Children aged 10–14 (51.8%)

• Teens aged 15–19 (29%)

• Accidental (65.7%)

• Self-inflicted (45.4%)

• In home (45.4%)

• Assault (10.4%)

• Suicide attempt (0.1%)