From the Shooting Wire:
 
New statistics from the National Safety Council shows that accidents with
firearms remain at record lows. Even more significantly, accidents
involving youths continue to decline - significantly.
 
The trend is especially positive as the numbers of firearms owners climbs,
giving credibility to the idea that training new gun owners helps assure
their safety as they progress in shooting.
 
The 2007 NSF's "Safety Facts" report shows a 40 percent decrease in
accidental firearms-related fatalities in the period from 1995 through
2005. It also shows gun accidents involving children age fourteen and under
declined sixty nine percent from 1995 through 2003.
 
The council's most recent stats show 109,277 U.S. residents dying in
accidents of all types in 2005. Less than 1 percent involved firearms. As
you might imagine, motor vehicles were the highest fatality rate, with
poisoning and falls joining the auto to account for seventy five percent of
all accidental deaths.
 
These statistics are also verified by findings of the Centers for Disease
Control. The CDC findings show that all four regions of the United States
have enjoyed significant declines in the numbers of firearms-related
fatalities.
 
There were 730 accidental firearms fatalities in 2005; forty percent fewer
than the 1,225 deaths in 1995. And the numbers of firearms related
fatalities continue to show the largest percentage decrease of all measured
types of accident fatalities.