| | Firearms Accidents Post Dramatic Decline in 2000 The number of accidental firearm fatalities in the United States fell to an all-time low in 2000, according to the recently released National Safety Council’s Injury Facts report. The preliminary total of 600 firearm fatalities in 2000 is 25% fewer than in 1999, reflects a 58% drop since 1990, and is the lowest number of fatalities reported since records were first kept in 1903. “Much of the credit,” notes Bob Delfay, president and CEO of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), “goes to the thousands of volunteers in hunter safety education, the National Rifle Association, Boy Scouts and 4-H firearm safety instruction who are making a positive contribution to increased safe ownership of firearms and enjoyment of the shooting sports.” While accidental firearms fatalities were reduced to 600 in 2000, the National Safety Council reports accidental drowning deaths numbered 3,900, there were 3,600 deaths from fires and burns, and poisonings of all types took 12,100 lives. In 1998, the most recent year for which fatalities by age statistics are available, firearms contributed to 74 accidental deaths among children 12 years and younger, while in the same age group 906 drowned and 567 died from burns and fire.
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