Unintentional Firearm Fatalities Reach All-Time Low

By Jacki Billings

The NSSF suggests locking up guns that are not in use to keep unauthorized persons, like children, from accessing. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
A new report from the National Safety Council shows unintentional firearm fatalities have hit a record low, accounting for only 1% of all firearm fatalities in 2018.
The National Safety’s Council Injury Facts Report 2018, a reference resource for safety statistics, reported that preventable or accidental gun-related deaths totaled only 458 cases in 2018 — the lowest figure since the organization began record-keeping in 1903.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearm industry, said the data proves that safety education programs, like its own Project ChildSafe, are working.
“As an industry that prioritizes firearm safety, it is extremely good news to see this record decline in gun-related accidents,” Joe Bartozzi, NSSF’s President and CEO, said in a news release. “It’s gratifying to know that our industry’s gun safety efforts, including our long-running Project ChildSafe firearm safety education program, are contributing to helping save lives.”
Preventable accidents have steadily decreased over the years with a 44% decline from 1999 to 2018. With approximately 100 million gun owners in the U.S., the NSSF says this figure proves that education on safe handling paired

Source: Guns.com