In Utah from 2015-2019 in youths 17 years and younger:
- There were 97 firearm suicides. Youth firearm suicide decreased from 21 in 2015 to 13 in 2019.*
- Firearms were involved in 49% of all youth suicides.*
- There were 64 hospitalizations related to firearms (30 from unintentional), an average of 16 per year.* (2016-2019)
Unintentional
- There were less than 5 children age 17 and under who were killed from 2015-2019 from unintentional firearm injuries.
- There were 30 children age 17 and under who were hospitalized from 2016-2019 from unintentional firearm injuries.
- There were 91 children age 17 and under who were treated and released from emergency departments from 2016-2019 from unintentional firearm injuries.
- Total of 64 plus 91 = 155 hospitalized or seen in the ER related to firearms, 121 unintentional.
- 121 unintentional injuries either hospitalized or seen in the ER and discharged, an average of over 30 per year.
Intentional
2 categories: Assault and Self-Inflicted
1. Assault:
There were 25 children age 17 and under who were killed from 2015-2019 from assault firearm injuries. There were 25 children age 17 and under who were hospitalized from 2016-2019 from assault firearm injuries. There were 32 children age 17 and under who were treated and released from ER departments from 2016-2019 from assault firearm injuries.
2. Self-Inflicted
There were 7 children age 17 and under who were hospitalized from 2016-2019 for self-inflicted firearm injuries. There were 9 children age 17 and under who were treated and released from ER departments from 2016-2019 from self-inflicted firearm injuries.
- Utah has the highest birth rate in the country and has a high rate of gun ownership.
- Having access to a gun at home makes the risk of suicide 3-5 times more likely**
- Guns are the most lethal method of suicide. 80.3% of attempts are lethal compared to 39.5% and .2% for pill ingestion.***
- 22% of children with gun-owning parents have handled the firearms without their parents knowledge.****
- Only 56% of parents with guns keep all their guns unloaded and locked away. 31% keep at least one unlocked and 13% keep at least one loaded.***