Fed: Hospital gun injury admissions fall 30 per cent in 5 years

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2001
Fed: Hospital gun injury admissions fall 30 per cent in 5 years

A new report shows the number of people admitted to hospital for gunshot wounds has
fallen by 30 per cent in the last five years.

The report, by Australian Institute of Criminology researcher JENNY MOUZOS, says the
fall in gunshot injuries is in line with the decline in firearm deaths.

This is a trend which precedes uniform national gun laws introduced following the 1996
Port Arthur massacre.

She said the figures show there were 616 firearm related hospital admissions in 1994-95
with the figures decreasing each following year and totalling 473 in 1998-99.

Hospital admissions for gunshot wound are classed as accidental, self-inflicted, assault,
legal intervention and undetermined.

While almost three quarters of all gun deaths are self-inflicted, suicide attempts
account for only 16 to 21 per cent of hospital admissions.

Ms MOUZOS says the decline's been driven primarily by a drop in accidental firearms
injuries involving males.

But she says there are still too many Australians who are injured and require hospitalisation
due to the misuse of a firearm.

AAP RTV mb/daw/mss/jn

KEYWORD: GUNS (CANBERRA)

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