The happiest of seasons is also among the deadliest: Unintentional shootings spike during the holidays, and are more likely to occur than any other time of the year.
In all, 32 people were killed nationwide and 59 injured over the past two years from Christmas Eve through New Yearโs Day โย the most likely day for accidental shootings each year,ย according to an analysis by the Associated Press and the USA TODAY Network.ย
The victims were mostly male and young, with a median age of 19. Nearly half the shootings were self-inflicted, and most occurred in their own homes.
The victims are people like Tezlar Wayne Ross, a 20-year-old from Gaffney, South Carolina, who killed himself while playing with a handgun at his home last New Yearโs Eve. His girlfriend and two other friends witnessed the accident in Rossโ bedroom, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said. Alcohol was not involved.
โThey were absolutely clowning around,โ Fowler said. โAnd sometimes that innocent fun, especially with a gun, can get you in trouble. A weapon like that is not a toy.โ
Several factors contribute to the increase:
โ Children and teenagers are out of school for the holidays and have access to unsecured guns at their homes and those of relatives and friends.
โ Adults are drinking alcohol and inattentive to gun safety or their children.
โNew guns are given and received as gifts in the tens of thousands.
โItโs a popular time of year for hunting.
The count does not include three deaths and 16 injuries involving guns fired into the air to celebrate the New Year.
The AP and USA TODAY Network looked at holiday shootings after an earlier investigation found that accidental shootings involving children happen far more often than federal government statistics show. Based on incidents compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, they found that more than 320 minors were killed by unintentional shootings over a 2ยฝ year period that ended June 30.
For those who have lost loved ones in holiday shootings, the season is never again the same. In recent interviews, the mothers of two teenage victims urged families to be aware of the heightened seasonal risk and take precautions to prevent unnecessary gun deaths.
โAlcohol and guns donโt mix,โ warned Teka Russell, 43, of Frankfort, Kentucky, whose 16-year-old son, Dโnomyar โDenomโ Russell, was shot during a family Christmas gathering in 2014.
Denomโs older brother, who was 21 at the time, had received a handgun as a gift earlier in the day for self-protection. After a family dinner, the adults were drinking while Denom played a video game, and one relative shot the gun into a couch to see if it was loaded, Russell said.
Denomโs brother โfreaked outโ and started taking bullets out of the gun, which accidentally discharged as Denom walked around the corner to see what was happening, she said.
The death was ruled an accident and no charges were filed. The family is still struggling without Denom, who was remembered as a happy-go-lucky high school freshman who helped lift up struggling classmates.
The family didnโt get together last year for Christmas; Russell said she will try to celebrate the holiday this year for her children.
โI donโt want it to always be remembered as a bad day,โ she said.
FBI data show guns are popular gifts for the holidays: The agency conducted more than 185,700 background checks requested by firearms dealers on Nov. 25, the shopping day known as Black Friday this year. That was a single-day record in the programโs 18-year history.
The AP-USA TODAY Network analysis found that the rate of accidental shootings spikes by about 50 percent during the nine days studied compared to the rest of the year.
Gun violence researcher Garen Wintemute of the University of California, Davis said he was unaware of any studies showing an increase in unintentional shootings around the holidays, so the news outletsโ findings โmight be breaking new ground.โ
โLots of people get new firearms over the holidays and might be unfamiliar with them โ and not applying the basic rules of good conduct with firearms,โ he said. Alcohol, too, may play a role, he added.