International journal of legal medicine
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Comparative Study
Accidental firearm fatalities. Forensic and preventive implications.
Out of a total of 624 consecutive gunshot autopsies from Münster and Hamburg, Germany, 32 cases (5.1%) were accidental. The accidents were self-inflicted in 3 cases while another person fired the gun in the remaining 29 cases. More than half of the victims were younger than 25 years and 75% were male. ⋯ Preventive measures should concentrate on strict inaccessibility of guns to children and on increased educational efforts to subgroups at risk such as hunters and members of the armed forces. A single non-contact gunshot injury from a long-barrelled firearm can be considered typical for an accident but the great variety and the possible presence of "disguised" suicides and homicides requires a careful forensic investigation including inspection of the scene and reconstruction of the events. It is recommended that a case should always be considered to be non-accidental in the beginning of an investigation.