Children in rural communities were just as likely to die of gunshot wounds as kids living in cities, according to a study reported in Pediatrician magazine.
Researchers examined 24,000 deaths from 1999 to 2006 and they did find differences between gun deaths in rural and urban communities. Urban young people were more likely to be the victims of homocides. Young people in rural areas were more likely to die from accidental shootings and suicides.
The research covered 15,000 homicides, 7,000 suicides and 1,400 accidental shootings among Americans 19 years of age and younger. Rural and urban areas had the same death rates, about 4 for every 100,000 children.
“This debunks the myth that firearm death is a big-city problem,” said lead author Michael Nance, a pediatric surgeon at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “This is everybody’s problem.”