The number of children and teenagers killed by guns declined in 1995, the first reduction in a decade.

The Children's Defense Fund released the analysis Tuesday. It was based on data released in July by the National Center for Health Statistics.Overall, 5,285 people ages 19 and under were killed by guns in 1995, a 9.4 percent drop from 1994.

The number and the rate of gun deaths had been climbing since 1983, when just under 3,000 children and teens were killed by guns.

Six in 10 of the deaths are homicides, which have fallen two years in a row. But the drop in 1995 was dramatic - 9.2 percent - driving the overall death rate down to seven deaths out of every 100,000 Americans under 19, said Lois Fingerhut, an analyst with the government's statistics office.

The homicide rate has been dropping for adults as well.

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Suicides dropped 7.3 percent to 1,450 in 1995, and unintentional deaths dropped 14.1 percent, to 440.

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