Gun death rates among children similar in rural areas, big cities, study says

CHICAGO -- Children in the most rural areas of the United States are as likely to die by gunshot as those in the biggest cities, an analysis of nearly 24,000 deaths finds.

Not surprisingly, homicides involving firearms are more common among city youths. But gun suicides and accidental fatal shootings level the score: They are more common among rural kids.

"This debunks the myth that firearm death is a big-city problem," said lead author Michael Nance, a doctor at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "This is everybody's problem." The findings were published in Monday's issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers analyzed data from nearly 24,000 gun-related deaths among people 19 and younger from 1999 through 2006. That included about 15,000 homicides, about 7,000 suicides and about 1,400 accidental shootings.

The researchers sorted them by county and then compared the gun death rates for the most urban counties (those with populations of 1 million or more) and the most rural counties (the ones far from cities or with fewer than 2,500 people). They found essentially the same rate: about four deaths per 100,000 children.

A previous analysis of adult deaths showed similar patterns.