Washington, Dec 15 (IANS): Firearms are a leading injury method for children and adolescents in the US, and about one half of unintentional firearm injury deaths among kids and teens occurred at their home, according to a new report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Unintentional injury is a leading cause of death among US children and adolescents aged under 17 years, Xinhua news agency quoted the report released on Thursday as saying.

Firearms used in unintentional injury deaths were often stored both loaded and unlocked and were commonly accessed from nightstands and other sleeping areas, according to the report.

Unintentional firearm injury deaths are preventable, said the report.

Securing firearms is protective against unintentional firearm injury deaths among children and adolescents, which underscores the importance of promoting secure firearm storage, it added.

The CDC report comes amid rampant gun violence in the US.

As of December 7, at least 40,167 people have died from gun violence so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

This is an average of almost 118 deaths each day.

Of those who died, 1,306 were teens and 276 were children.

Deaths by suicide have made up the vast majority of gun violence deaths this year.

There's been 22,506 deaths by gun suicide this year, an average of about 66 deaths by suicide per day in 2023.

The majority of these deaths have occurred in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois and Louisiana.