Air and paintball gun injuries caused more than 20,000 ER visits in 2008

AHRQ also found that in emergency departments in 2008:

• About 60 percent of visits for air and paintball gun injuries were for children and adolescents 17 and younger. More than 25 percent were for children aged 10 to 14.

• Males were 5 times more likely than females to be seen for air and paintball gun injuries.

• Visits for air and paintball gun injuries were higher in rural areas (92 per 1 million population) than in urban areas (61 per 1 million population).

• Low-income children and adults were nearly three times more likely than those with higher-incomes to be treated for air and paintball gun injuries, at 93 and 34 visits per 1 million people, respectively.

• One in four visits for air and paintball guns were billed as uninsured, while about one-third of visits were billed to private insurance and another one-third billed to Medicaid.