25 Kids Under 5 Have Shot Someone This Year

An alarming new analysis of gun data finds that at least 79 American kids shot someone accidentally in the first four months of this year—and 25 of those kids were between the ages of two and four years old. In those 79 incidents, 24 people were killed and 56 were injured, Vocativ reports. Everytown for Gun Safety offers an interactive map showing all of the incidents, like a 4-year-old who fatally shot himself with his babysitter's gun and a 3-year-old who accidentally shot both of his parents.

As a press release from Everytown and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America points out, the data translates to this disturbing thought: "That's an average of one unintentional child shooting in America every 36 hours." At least 35 of the kids involved in these incidents shot themselves, and 12 of those children died. Everytown notes that up to 2 million US kids have "easily accessible" firearms in their homes, and stresses the importance of locking guns up. (Click to read why one columnist thinks we shouldn't call unintentional shootings by children "accidents.")