A new study from Stanford University School of Medicine has found a dramatic increase in eye injuries from “non-powder” guns — air guns, BB guns, and paintball guns — in children. Mary Elizabeth Dallas reports that eye injuries rose 511% in the United States in just three years (2010-2013) — mostly from air guns:
A non-powder gun is one that doesn’t use gunpowder to fire. Instead, these guns use compressed air, springs, and other methods to fire, according to information from Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
More than 3,000 children were treated in U.S. emergency rooms in 2012 for eye injuries related to air guns, BB guns, pellet guns and paintball guns, according to the researchers.
Despite effective strategies implemented by BB gun manufacturers in the early 2000s to restrict sales and marketing campaigns directed at minors, the rising popularity of air guns has correlated with a rise in children’s eye injuries since 2010. Air guns — also called airsoft guns — fire plastic bullets, the researchers said.
The researchers suggest stricter regulations regarding the sale of these guns and greater use of protective eyewear could prevent many of these injuries.
Maybe if parents didn’t let their children play with guns to begin with…
(Yahoo!Images — From “A Christmas Story”)