The latest “Injury Facts” report from the National Safety Council shows accidental firearm deaths in 2015 were the lowest they have been in any year since 1903.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) published figures from the report, showing that “fatal firearms accidents dropped 17 percent from 2014 to 2015 to 489.” Moreover, the figure of 489 accidental firearm deaths is so low, relatively speaking, that it represents “about three-tenths of 1 percent of the 146,571 total accidental deaths from all other listed causes.”
Read it again and think about it — the number of accidental gun deaths in 2015 was roughly “three-tenths of 1 percent of the 146,571 total accidental deaths from all other listed causes.”
And while accidental gun deaths fell 17 percent from 2014 to 2015, the total number of accidental deaths for all other listed causes rose 8 percent. NSSF observed, “It should be noted that the decrease, which was the largest percentage decline of any category, came in a year that saw record firearms sales to many millions of Americans.”
On April 18, 2016, Breitbart News reported that a record number of background checks occurred in the month of May 2015 and continued each month after that throughout the rest of 2015. In other words, the number of background checks for gun purchases conducted in May 2015 was the highest number for any May on record, the number conducted in June is the highest number for any June on record, the numbers conducted in July, August, September, October, November, and December were the highest for those respective months too.
Yet even amid this surge in background checks — which resulted from a surge in the demand for firearms — the number of accidental firearm deaths plummeted to their lowest level since 1903.
NSSF President and CEO Steve Sanetti said, “This latest release from the National Safety Council shows that the vast majority of the 100 million American firearms owners meet the serious responsibilities which come with firearms ownership. They store their firearms safely and securely when not in use, and follow the basic rules of firearms safety when handling them.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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