For unintentional injuries, the most common mechanism was gun recoil (43.2%; 11 686 injuries), followed by cutting, piercing, crushing, and pinching injuries associated with the slide or trigger mechanism or other gun part. Six per cent of unintentional injuries resulted from mechanical force related to an explosion of gun parts. Other unintentional injuries included powder burns, burns from contact with hot shell casings, auditory trauma from excessive noise exposure, and falls while carrying a firearm.
Over the four year study period, 6871 persons with recreational non-GSWs were treated in hospital emergency departments in the United States (table 4). Persons treated for these injuries were primarily male and over 15 years of age. Nearly two thirds of the injuries were to the head, face, neck and eye, and most of the others were to the extremities. Rifles and shotguns accounted for nearly two thirds of these injuries. Recreational non-GSWs were primarily associated with hunting (55.2%; 3792 injuries) and target shooting (44.3%; 3043 injuries). Almost half of the recreational injuries (3209 injuries) were caused by gun recoil, and nearly eight out of 10 occurred during the fall and winter.
