AIR-POWERED GUNS - TOO MUCH FIREPOWER TO BE A TOY

Objective: This study reviews our experience and calls attention to th e potential danger of air-powered guns, Design: Retrospective analysis . Materials and Methods: Review of patients with air-powered gun injur ies admitted to a Level I trauma center and air gun deaths reported to the United Stares Consumer Product Safely Commission over a 5-year pe riod ending July 1994. Results: Sixteen children (median age 10) were admitted after sustaining BE or pellet gun injuries, Three children ha d cranial penetration; one remains severely brain impaired. One of to thoracic injuries required left ventriculorrhaphy. All five children s ustaining abdominal wounds underwent laparotomy for enteric perforatio ns; one was complicated by an intra-arterial pellet embolus. Three of five children with neck wounds had penetrating tracheal injury. Overal l nine children required operative intervention, No deaths occurred in our series, but there were 33 air gun deaths reported to the United S tates Consumer Product Safety Commission during this period, Conclusio n: Our data demonstrate that injuries from air-powered guns should be treated in a manner similar to those from low velocity powder firearms , We can no longer continue to underestimate the potential for life-th reatening injury from these weapons.