May 25, 2010 May 25, 2010 Contact: Juliann Walsh, Public
Relations, 267-426-6054 Children in the U.S. are just as likely
to die from gunshot wounds if they live in the largest cities or
the smallest towns. However, teens living in the most urban
counties are more likely to die from gun violence, while
children in the most remote areas of the country are more likely
to die in gun-related accidents or suicides, according to new
research by The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Almost
24,000 children and adolescents were killed by guns in the U.S.
between 1999 and 2006. The study, which appears in the June
issue of the journal Pediatrics, looked at the circumstances of
those deaths and found 15,190 were homicides, 7,082 were
suicides and 1,377 were classified as unintentional. The most
urban counties experienced disproportionately higher rates of
firearm homicide, while the most rural counties experienced
higher rates of suicide and unintentional firearm deaths. To
reduce these deaths, prevention strategies s