16 children were shot every day across US in 2012: report

According to new findings, over 5,800 children, on average 16 per day, were hospitalised with gun injuries in 2012.

The American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] used the US government's inpatient database for minors to find that approximately 5,862 children had been admitted to hospitals in 2012. The injuries were gun related and had been received through violent assaults, by accident or during suicide attempts.

The study found that more than 50 per cent of the youth that was hospitalised had 'unintentional' injuries and belonged to areas “within the bottom 25 per cent of median household income.” While about 53 per cent victims were black and majority of them were male.

Earlier in the year, David E Stark, New York based data scientist, had published a research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggesting that research on gun violence is 'disproportionately low' in a country where 30,000 people are killed annually  from firearms.

Stark said that a congressional act passed in 1996 was the likely cause of disinterest in exploring the subject further. The act prevented the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention from utilising funds to promote gun control.

Alyssa Silver, author of a recent study on child firearm injuries said that the issues needed to be researched further and that the findings add urgency to the need of promoting gun control.

Silver said that “The fact that 57 percent of firearm-related injuries in children under 15-years-old were unintentional, for example, highlights the need for improved gun safety and storage practices.”

The study conducted by AAP will be presented on May 8, 2017, at the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco.