On several occasions the figure of 14 children/day killed by guns is
posted on the Internet or used in print or other media. In some cases
“children” are defined as those 19 years of age or younger.
14 children/day X 365 days = 5,110 children/year killed by firearms.

The National Centers for Health Statistics have a very complete
breakdown of, among other things, mortality based on age, sex, etc.
Using their classification, death by Homicide, legal intervention and
suicide from all causes, not only firearms, among ages 1-14 is 1,331.
NOT 5,110.

NCHS has several subcategories according to age. In NONE of them are
persons aged 19 or aged 18 classified as children. In SOME instances
the age group from age 3 years to age 17 years is classified as
“children”, for instance when discussing developmental delay, learning
disability,
or an emotional or behavioral problem. There is a YOUTH category that
includes those aged 12-17 years of age.

ONLY if ages 15-24 are included(which are by no means “children”) may
another 12,712 deaths from _all_ causes, _NOT_ only firearms, in these
two categories. By adding firearms related deaths from homicide,
suicide and legal intervention among persons
24, 23,22,21,20,19,18,17,16,& 15 years of age it is possible to bring
the total to over 5,000 “children”/year.

Further, according to NCHS the number and rate of deaths has been
steadily decreasing.
Information does not seem to be available from original sources on
whether death caused by firearms is from legal use by police and
citizens or results from criminal activity.

Diseases of the heart is the number one killer among _all_ ages:
717,706; death rate 281.4
while homicide and legal intervention, from _ALL_ causes among _ALL_
ages, ranks number
ten : 25,488; death rate 10.0

**********************************************************************

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/releases/99facts/99sheets/97mortal.htm

“The annual
report regularly tracks firearm deaths
and shows a drop of 5.4 percent in the
age-adjusted death rate from 1996 to
1997. A new table on injury mortality
classifying injuries by mechanism shows
the four most frequent types of injury
deaths in addition to firearm were motor
vehicle traffic (42,473), poisoning
(17,692) and falls (12,555).”

“The information on causes of death in
this report is recorded on death
certificates by physicians, medical
examiners, and coroners; the death
certificates are filed in state vital
statistics offices.”
************************************************************************
*****
Report
(http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/series/sr10/pre-190/pre-190.
htm)

Series 10
No. 192
Health-Risk Behaviors
Among Our Nation’s Youth:
United States, 1992 , June 1995
Vital and Health Statistics
From the CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION / National Center
for Health Statistics
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Public Health Service
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Health Statistics

Series 20: Data on mortality

http://www.cdc.gov/nchswww/data/sr20_29.pdf

Series 20
No. 29
Leading causes of death
by age, sex, race, and
Hispanic origin:
United States, 1992
Vital and
Health Statistics
From the CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION / National Center
for Health Statistics

From Table 1. Deaths and death rates for the 10 leading causes of death
in specified age groups, by race, Hispanic origin, and sex:
United States, 1992
Homicide and legal intervention

Ages Number Rate
1-4 430 2.8
5-14 587 1.6
15-24 8,019 22.2

Suicide
1-4 NA
5-14 314 0.9
15-24 4,693 13.0
There is a LARGE increase in the category 15-24 years of age.

NCHS: http://childstats.gov/ac1999/ac99.asp

By 1997, the rate of serious violent crime
involving juvenile offenders had dropped
significantly from its peak in 1993.

This finding is from the Bureau of
Justice
Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey
(NCVS), summarized in the 1999 America’s
Children report, which provides a key measure
on the level of violence committed by youth, as
well as the number of youth age 12 through 17
years old who were crime victims. The serious
violent crime measures include the crimes of
rape, robbery and aggravated assault from the
NCVS, along with data on juvenile-related
homicides from the FBI’s Uniform Crime
Reporting Program.

In 1997, according to victims’ reports,
70,000 serious violent crimes involved one or
more juvenile offenders between the ages of 12
and 17. The 1997 juvenile violent crime rate of
31 crimes per 1,000 youth in the general
population dropped from a high of 52 per 1,000
in 1993 and is the lowest rate since 1986. When
compared to the number of violent crimes
nationwide, violent crimes committed by
juveniles comprise about 1 in 4 of all violent
crimes.

Juvenile violence (particularly juvenile
homicide) is geographically concentrated, and
not a phenomenon experienced by most
communities in the U.S. In fact, nearly 9 out of
every 10 counties nationwide did not have a
juvenile murderer and 1 out of every 4 juvenile
murderers were located in eight counties.

Overall, violence rates against youth
have also experienced declines nationwide.
More than 600,000 serious violent crimes were
committed against juveniles in 1997, or nearly 3
such crimes for every 100 youth aged 12-17 in
the population. This rate also reflects a steady
drop since the 1993 peak of 4 per 100.
Significant declines occurred in all age, race
and sex groups.