

Geographically, the study showed that the most deaths by firearm among children occurred in Louisiana and Washington, DC.

Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, and New Hampshire had the lowest rates.

"The researchers found that older children, those 13 to 17, had a rate of fatal firearm injury that was more than 12 times higher than the rate for children 12 and younger," reported CNN.

Some good news, the rate of firearm homicides among children were in decline year to year between 2007 and 2014.

Researchers noted however that the rate of gun-related injuries may not be wholly accurate due to under-reporting. Laws in most states require police to be called when anyone is brought into a hospital with such an injury.

In terms of the global number of gun-related deaths however, the US still makes up 91 per cent of children dying as a result of a firearm.

Given the recent shooting in Alexandria, Virginia on US Congressmen and aides, the debate on gun control has once again resurfaced.

Tragic incidents involving children like the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut where 20 first- and second-graders were killed in December 2014 also brought the issue of firearms controls to the forefront.

Non profit community-focused organisations like Cure Violence are also addressing the problem as a public health crisis rather than just an issue of stricter legal controls on firearms purchasing and possession.

Gary Slutkin, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois-Chicago, told NPR earlier this year that gun violence needs to be treated like any "contagious disease."

"The definition of contagious is it produces more of itself, and how much you've been exposed is the predictor of whether you're likely to do it," he told NPR.