Toy Guns With Projectiles
Twenty years of CPSC NEISS emergency-room records for this consumer product category, combined with demographic breakdowns, multi-year injury trends, and matching recall notices.
Toys & Children's Recreation · CPSC Code 1399
Up 57% over 5 years
The verdict
Toy Guns With Projectiles carry a danger score of 38/100 (low risk), driven by roughly 2,051 ER-treated injuries a year that are rising by about 57% over the last five years.
- 38/100
- danger score (low risk)
- 2,051
- ER visits per year (avg)
- 3.1%
- end in hospital admission
- 5-14
- most-injured age group
Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 1399 - last data year 2024.
PlainSafety danger score
How this 38/100 score is built
The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for toy guns with projectiles - no opinion, no editorializing:
- Injury volume2,051 ER visits/yr
- Severity (hospitalization rate)3.1%
- Fatality rate0.00%
- 5-year trend+57%
See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.
What the CPSC Data Shows
Toy Guns With Projectiles (CPSC product code 1399, in the Toys & Children's Recreation category) generate an estimated 2,051 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 41,012 ER-treated injuries across the 20-year span from 2005 to 2024. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 38/100 for this category (low risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are rising by about 57% over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2024 (5,250 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2005 (210 estimated visits).
The single most common ER diagnosis for toy guns with projectiles is contusions, abr. to the eyeball, accounting for approximately 12,999 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by other to the eyeball (12,751 cases). The 5-14 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 19,563 cases over the NEISS window, and males appear slightly more often than the opposite sex in that cohort. Severity outcomes from the NEISS disposition field show that 3.1% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer.
Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 34 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how toy guns with projectiles fail in real households. Every figure on this page comes from CPSC-published data: NEISS projects national estimates from a probability sample of about 100 U.S. hospital emergency departments, while SaferProducts.gov collects voluntary reports from consumers, manufacturers, and clinicians. The danger score, trend indicators, and demographic breakdowns update automatically when CPSC releases a new yearly NEISS file, which is why this page is dated 2024-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.
Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2024)
Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only
Who Gets Injured?
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 3,507 | 1,311 | |
| 5-14 | 15,809 | 3,754 | |
| 15-24 | 3,142 | 2,308 | |
| 25-34 | 2,937 | 2,968 | |
| 35-44 | 1,689 | 1,566 | |
| 45-54 | 672 | 553 | |
| 55-64 | 237 | 331 | |
| 65-74 | 144 | 0 | |
| 75+ | 0 | 81 |
Most Common Injuries
| Body Part | Diagnosis | Est. Injuries |
|---|---|---|
| Eyeball | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Eyeball | Other | |
| Face | Laceration | |
| Internal | Ingestion | |
| Ear | Foreign Body | |
| Head | Laceration | |
| Face | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Eyeball | Derma/conjunct | |
| Mouth | Laceration | |
| Face | Foreign Body | |
| Head | Internal Injury | |
| Eyeball | Hemorrhage | |
| Face | Other | |
| Finger | Strain, Sprain | |
| Finger | Fracture |
Severity Breakdown
ER Visit Narratives
Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.
7YOM HAS LACERATION OVER RIGHT EYE. SOMEONE THREW A *** GUN TO HIM AND HE MISSED CATCHING IT AND IT HIT HIM IN THE FACE. DX: FACIAL LACERATION
11YOF STATES SHE AND FRIEND WERE PLAYING WITH *** GUNS AND RUNNING AROUND THE HOUSE WHEN THE 2 GIRLS COLLIDED RESULTING IN LEFT WRIST PAIN DX: BUCKLE FRACTURE OF LEFT WRIST
26YOF WITH BEING HIT BY A FOAM *** GUN BULLET DX; EYE INJURY
8YOM PATIENT WAS HIT IN THE EYE WITH A *** GUN BULLET DART, HE HAS HAD REDNESS, PAIN, AND BLURRY VISION SINCE. DX: EYE PAIN, ANTERIOR UVEITIS
31 YOF STATES ABOUT A WEEK AGO SHE WAS SHOT IN THE EYE WITH A *** GUN. DX: PAIN LEFT EYE
15YOF C/O ABRASION TO RIGHT CORNEA S/P PT WAS SHOT BY A *** GUN INTO HER RIGHT EYE. DX: CORNEA ABRASION
21 YOM WAS HIT IN THE EYE WITH A GEL *** BALL THAT WAS SHOT OUT OF A GUN LAST NIGHT. DX: TRAUMATIC IRITIS, HYPHEMA
39YOF HAS RIGHT EYE REDNESS AND BLURRY VISION AFTER SHE WAS STRUCK IN EYE WITH *** DART. COMPLAINS OF REDNESS AND BLURRY VISION. DX: EYE INJURY
16YOF WAS HIT IN THE RIGHT EYE WITH A *** DART SHOT FROM A *** GUN DX: ABRASION OF RIGHT EYE
19YOM WAS SHOT IN THE LEFT EYE WITH AN *** DX TRAUMATIC HYPHEMA OF EYE
5YOM WAS PLAYING WITH A *** GUN WHEN HE TOOK OFF HIS GOGGLES AND ACCIDENTALLY SHOT HIMSELF IN THE EYE WITH A *** PELLET DX: HYPHEMA OF RIGHT EYE; RIGHT EYE INJURY
4YOM WAS LOOKING INTO THE BARREL OF A *** GUN WHEN IT SHOT A DART INTO HIS RIGHT EYE. DX: HYPHEMA OF EYE; EYE TRAUMA.
Consumer Incident Reports
Reports filed by consumers on SaferProducts.gov.
The Hasbro "Spider man rapid fire web shooter" my grandson received as a gift, Is clearly an EXTREME risk to anyone's eyes. I cant believe they marketed it. I confiscated it immediately. How many children will suffer eye damage, befofore it is recalled? No injury occurred, but please investigate this product.
My son was standing outside while his dad and him were taking turns using the zoomo turbo disc launcher. His Dad pulled the rip cord, the launcher exploded into two pieces. Sending a sharp piece of plastic whipping into my son's stomach. Cut his stomach and left a welt. It went through his shirt.
On Aug 26th, 2017, I was shot by my 6 year old son with a nerf gun, where I was temporarily blinded and in severe pain. This resulted in an emergency room visit and daily doctor appts for 10+ days, including taking 6+ medicines for pain, steroids, and other eye drops. I had to miss a full week of work and was limited to my bed for my eye to heal, as there was a severe risk due to the pressure of going permanently blind. While my vision is back to normal, I run a high risk of glaucoma and have to get eye test twice a year for the rest of my life. My concern with this product is that Nerf implies safety. If you look at the packaging and their marketing materials and commercials, the kids are having battles and are not wearing eye goggles. the warnings are for choking only and a caution not to point at eyes or face. Noting about recommending eye wear or promoting it in any way. In the past week, there is a report out of the UK, where they are now highlighting the dangers of nerf guns. I have filed a report with Hasbro and their comments are they have been tested and are deemed safe as long as the guns are not modified or using non-branded nerf bullets. This gun was not modified and we used the nerf elite bullets and sustained major injuries. Requesting the USPC to take action to require a change in how the nerf guns safety requirements are established from packaging to speed of the bullets. I have spoken with Hasbro and other than taking down my information and sharing with their product team, they claim they are in compliance with the safety requirements and have no additional resources for me as the consumer to be an advocate in helping Hasbro make their products safer and to help reduce risk of others having the same injury. This week there was a report in the UK about 3 recent injuries that are similar to mine. Action must be taken to protect our children. Below is my facebook post on the injury. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugi
I was sitting at the kitchen table and my nephew came in the room with his nerf gun. He pointed it in my direction and as I was saying"dont point that at me", he pulled the trigger. It shot me directly in the eyeball. I experienced severe pain. i was about 4 foot away from him when I was shot. I immdiately saw a shadow in my vision. I went home and the next morning upon an increase in pain, I went to the er. A retinal specialist was called in and It was discovered that I have a retinal bruise. It was on August 11, it is not September 1 and I am still in a lot of pain. I experience a lot of swelling which causes pressure and pain in my ear and face as well as my eye. I am not at risk for retinal detachment, pressure increases and glaucoma in the future.
A company called Mini Blaster that makes realistic toy guns is advertising them through [REDACTED] kids videos. The videos are shorts such as 3 toys so creepy theyre banned in the United States and one is always about kids scaring people at school with a hyper realistic gun then they state the guns are now available and provide a link to purchase from them. Their [REDACTED] page is @TheMiniBl4sters and website miniblaster.co.
My son was playing with a friend at his house. His friend had just received a Ravager Nerf dart gun that day as a present, and was shooting it with instructions not to aim at anyone's head. My son's friend (age 7) fired at my son from about 20 feet away at an angle (approximately 7 O'clock relative to my son at 12 O'clock). The dart hit my son in the eye, causing immediate redness in his eye, tearing, swelling in the eye, and swelling of surrounding tissue. He was taken to the ER, where they ruled out corneal abrasion (apparently common with these darts) and recommended follow-up with an ophthalmologist. The ophthalmologist confirmed that eye injuries are common with Nerf dart guns and noted an oblong and sluggish pupil that was larger than the uninjured eye. She diagnosed him with 1 to 2+cell and flayer, slight conjunctival injection, traumatic iritis and traumatic aniscoria. He was prescribed steroid drops. He continues to follow up. [REDACTED] https://www.nerfz.com/nerf-guns/ravager/
My 5-year-old son was given a "buzz light year dart Gun" bought at the "FiveBelow" store located at the shopping center by [REDACTED] in Fort Worth Texas yesterday (7/21/2020). When we got home and he opened the toy, he loaded the spring and pushed the trigger without a dart in the canon, unfortunately, my older son was next to him and the canon was aiming at his face. While this usually is not concerning as no dart or projectile was shot out of the canon, my son claimed he felt something hitting his face immediately, my first reaction was to tell him it could it be just air, but he kept claiming that it felt like something like liquid came out of it and it felt like burning. I immediately took the toy away, load the spring and shot it without a dart to the palm of my hand, I was not able to feel anything but the air hitting my hand but a few seconds later I notice a small dot of blood coming out of one of my fingers, carefully, I was able to pull a small piece of plastic out of my skin. I believe that if my son were not wearing his glasses, he could get some of this debris in his eyes and hurt him. I have pictures of the product and the results of this malfunction. Please let me know how I can send them to you. Thank you. [REDACTED]
I was using a nerf gun playing with my family and the trigger part of this gun was able to catch in my skin and puncture it leaving a bruise. I was using the product in its intended way so reloading the bullet when the trigger was pulled my arm was too close to the area where it pulls back. The product name is Nerf DinoSquad Stegosmash Dart Blaster
Showing 8 of 34 reports.
Product Recalls
Search for active and past recalls related to toy guns with projectiles on the CPSC website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How dangerous are toy guns with projectiles?
Based on 20 years of CPSC data, toy guns with projectiles have a danger score of 38/100 (low risk). An estimated 2,051 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.
What are the most common injuries from toy guns with projectiles?
The most common injury is contusions, abr. to the eyeball, accounting for approximately 12,999 injuries over 20 years.
Are injuries from toy guns with projectiles increasing or decreasing?
Up 57% over 5 years.
Who is most at risk for toy guns with projectiles injuries?
The 5-14 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 19,563 cases recorded over 20 years. Males are more frequently injured in this age group.
What happens when someone is injured by toy guns with projectiles?
Of all ER visits involving toy guns with projectiles, approximately 3.1% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (96.9%) are treated and released from the emergency department.
How can I report a safety problem with toy guns with projectiles?
You can file a consumer incident report at SaferProducts.gov, the official CPSC reporting portal. Reports help the CPSC identify emerging hazards and trigger investigations or recalls. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772.
Related Products in Toys & Children's Recreation
Safety Guides
What this means for you
Treat the 38/100 score as relative risk between products, not your personal odds of injury.
- See where this category ranks against every other tracked product. Full rankings
- Injuries cluster in the 5-14 age group, take extra care if that describes your household.
- Check for active recalls on this product before you assume it is safe. CPSC recalls
NEISS estimates ER-treated injuries from a national probability sample of hospitals; they do not capture injuries treated elsewhere or not treated at all.
Data: CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments. This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, scored, and verified.