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A firearm death cannot occur if the victim or perpetrator does not have access to a firearm. "Safer storage" of firearms has been defined in this report as storing of a firearm unloaded and in a locked place separate from ammunition. Trigger locks can similarly make firearm storage safer. Firearms stored in this way may decrease the risk of impulsive suicides and homicides because of the time required to access and load the gun. Firearms stored in this way may also decrease the risk of unintentional shootings, since children can be effectively prevented from accessing those firearms.


Data were available about storage practices for 12 of the 14 unintentional and suicide deaths from firearms; none of these 12 guns were "safely stored".

Eight percent of adults who have children reported on the 1998 Behavioral Risk Factor Survey that they had an unsafely stored firearm in their home. Unsafely stored is defined as a firearm stored loaded and unlocked "always" or "sometimes". Extrapolating from the survey this means that about 39,000 adult Oregonians store firearms unsafely and an estimated 64,000 children are exposed to firearms that are stored unsafely in the home. (figure 8)

Unintentional Firearm Deaths
There were seven unintentional firearm injury deaths in 1998. This includes six deaths classified as unintentional by the Medical Examiner, and one death of undetermined intent. The victims ranged in age from 5-17 years old. All the victims were white males. Two (29%) incidents occurred at the child?s home, four (57%) at another residence, and one (14%) in a car.

Six (86%) of these deaths were due to a handgun and one was due to a shotgun. Two of the guns were stolen from parents of the victims? friends. None of the firearms were stored in a locked location, none had a trigger lock, and none were stored separately from the ammunition.


In five (71%) of the cases the victim was unsupervised by an adult at the time of the incident. Four (57%) of these incidents were witnessed by another child. The victim shot himself in five (71%) cases, and was shot by another child under age 18 in the remaining two cases. In all of these incidents the victims were playing with guns. In three cases the victims were playing Russian Roulette ² . In two incidents the children were playing video games involving shooting just prior to the incident. In three cases alcohol or other substances were identified as factors contributing to the death.

In all cases there was a death scene investigation, in four there was a criminal investigation, and in two cases an arrest was made.


Firearm Suicides
There were seven suicides by firearm. Three (43%) victims were aged 10-14 or younger, four (57%) were 15-17. All but one (86%) was male. Four of the incidents involved a handgun, three a rifle/shotgun. In six cases the gun belonged to the victim?s parent and in one case the gun belonged to the victim?s girlfriend?s father. In the five incidents for which information about firearm storage was known none of the firearms were stored in a locked place, and in three incidents the gun was stored with the ammunition.

Only one of these deaths was witnessed. In one case the victim was under the influence of inhalants and alcohol at the time of the incident. Four of these deaths occurred at home and three at another residence.


In all cases a death scene investigation was conducted, and in four cases a criminal investigation occurred. No arrests were made. Additional information on suicides by all causes can be found below, in the Special Topics: Suicide section.

Firearm Homicides
There were six homicides by firearm in 1998. Five (83%) of the victims were aged 14-17, while one victim was 2 years old. The perpetrators ranged in age from 16-34 years. Five (83%) of the victims were male; the single female victim was 2 years old.

Alcohol and/or other drugs were known to be a factor in two (33%) of the fatalities. Two cases (33%) were gang related shootings, and both of these victims were Hispanic. The perpetrators of these homicides are unknown. Two (33%) homicides were the result of a school shooting. The perpetrator of the school shooting was aged 16. The 2 year-old girl was shot by her mother, aged 34; the mother subsequently shot and killed herself. Finally, in one firearm homicide case the circumstances and perpetrator were unknown.

In all cases a death scene and criminal investigation followed the shootings, and five arrests were made. A more complete discussion of criminal investigations can be found below in the Special Topics: Criminal Investigations and Judicial Outcomes section.

Recommendations to Prevent Firearm Related Fatalities

• Educate the public about safe firearm storage practice including: keeping firearms in locked storage compartments, storing ammunition separately, and using trigger locks.

• Enact a safe storage law.
• Recommendations for preventing firearm suicides are described later in the Special Topics/Suicide section.

Examples of current safety initiatives include the following:

• Ceasefire gun buy back program

• Multnomah County Sheriff?s Office gunlock distribution

2 Although some view Russian roulette as a form of suicide, the intent classification of these deaths in this report are the same as those assigned by the local CFR team.