CPSC NEISS · code 1399

Toy Guns With Projectiles

Toy Guns With Projectiles: danger rank #256 of 838 is not ER-volume rank #421 of 838 (2,051 estimated ER visits a year; rising by about 57% over the last five years).

Toys & Children's Recreation CPSC NEISS through 2024

Danger score versus ER volume

Danger score versus ER volume

According to CPSC NEISS 2005-2024, Toy Guns With Projectiles ranks #256 of 838 by danger score (38/100) at ER-volume #421 of 838 (2,051/yr). They are not the same ranking.

#256
danger rank of 838
#421
ER-volume rank of 838
38/100
danger score
2,051/yr
estimated ER visits (avg)

Danger score combines injury volume, hospitalization, fatality, and five-year trend. ER volume is the average annual NEISS estimate alone. Rank 1 is highest on each list.

Where this category's danger score sits nationally

Danger score (38/100) across 838 scored CPSC product categories

38 Around the middle lower than 30% of 838 product categories

scored CPSC product categories, bucketed by value

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more product categories. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source CPSC NEISS, PlainSafety danger-score model · 2024

Composite verdict

Composite Safety Score: 51/100

One verdict blending 4 independently-sourced dimensions from two separate CPSC systems, each benchmarked against all 838 scored product categories by percentile rather than raw value, so no single huge-volume category can dominate the scale.

C
Dimension Value National percentile Weight applied Source
Injury severity (hospitalization + fatality blend) 3 26th 35% CPSC NEISS 20-year severity index
Annual ER injury volume 2,051 48th 30% CPSC NEISS estimated annual ER-treated injuries
5-year injury trend +57% 95th 15% CPSC NEISS 5-year % change in ER-treated injuries
Consumer incident reports 34 64th 20% CPSC SaferProducts.gov public incident report count

Methodology: each dimension is ranked against the full population's p10/p25/p50/p75/p90 breakpoints and interpolated to a 0-100 percentile; the composite is the weighted average of available percentiles. See methodology for the full benchmark table.

Where 41,040 estimated ER injuries land on the body

Body-part shares from the same CPSC NEISS injury_types extract for product code 1399. Segments sum to 41,040 - a body-map mix, not a danger score or ER-volume rank.

Two danger lenses

Same-group peer scores and this product's dial

The bars compare PlainSafety danger scores inside the Toys & Children's Recreation group (same CPSC NEISS extract). The dial is this product's score alone on the Low/Moderate/High bands. Do not read a peer bar as an ER-visit count.

Toys & Children's Recreation danger scores

1. Kites Or Kite String46/1002. Skateboards, Unpowered Or…43/1003. Fireworks43/1004. Toys, Not Elsewhere Class…40/1005. Toys, Not Specified39/1006. Toy Guns With Projectiles38/1007. Building Sets38/1008. Inflatable Toys38/100
Higher score = higher composite danger in this group. Peer set is other scored products sharing the same CPSC group.
0/100100/10038/100
PlainSafety danger score · Toy Guns With Projectiles

Source: CPSC NEISS danger-score model As of 2024

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 volume 2,051 ER visits/yr Below median volume
  • Severity (hospitalization rate) 3.1% Below median admission rate
  • Fatality rate 0.00% No recorded fatalities
  • 5-year trend+57%

Band labels compare this category against the corpus of 838 scored CPSC product categories, see the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.

What the CPSC Data Shows

Across the 20-year NEISS window from 2005 to 2024, injury counts for toy guns with projectiles 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 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)

02K4K6K 20052008201120142017202020232024 5K
Estimated annual emergency-room visits for Toy Guns With Projectiles, CPSC NEISS

Source: CPSC NEISS national injury estimates As of 2024

Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only

Who Gets Injured?

Age Group Male Female Total
0-4 3,507 1,311 4,818
5-14 15,809 3,754 19,563
15-24 3,142 2,308 5,450
25-34 2,937 2,968 5,905
35-44 1,689 1,566 3,255
45-54 672 553 1,225
55-64 237 331 568
65-74 144 0 144
75+ 0 81 81

Most Common Injuries

Body Part Diagnosis Est. Injuries
Eyeball Contusions, Abr. 12,999
Eyeball Other 12,751
Face Laceration 2,403
Internal Ingestion 1,044
Ear Foreign Body 974
Head Laceration 901
Face Contusions, Abr. 845
Eyeball Derma/conjunct 843
Mouth Laceration 723
Face Foreign Body 638
Head Internal Injury 494
Eyeball Hemorrhage 443
Face Other 365
Finger Strain, Sprain 360
Finger Fracture 272

Severity Breakdown

Treated/examined And Released 94.5% (38,775)
Treated And Transferred 2.8% (1,161)
Treated And Admitted/hospitalized 1.4% (589)
Left Without Being Seen 1.1% (469)
Held For Observation 0.1% (46)

ER Visit Narratives

Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.

Age 7 · Male · Face · Laceration · 2024

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

Age 11 · Female · Wrist · Fracture · 2024

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

Age 26 · Female · Eyeball · Other · 2024

26YOF WITH BEING HIT BY A FOAM *** GUN BULLET DX; EYE INJURY

Age 8 · Male · Eyeball · Other · 2024

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

Age 31 · Female · Eyeball · Other · 2024

31 YOF STATES ABOUT A WEEK AGO SHE WAS SHOT IN THE EYE WITH A *** GUN. DX: PAIN LEFT EYE

Age 15 · Female · Eyeball · Contusions, Abr. · 2024

15YOF C/O ABRASION TO RIGHT CORNEA S/P PT WAS SHOT BY A *** GUN INTO HER RIGHT EYE. DX: CORNEA ABRASION

Age 21 · Male · Eyeball · Other · 2024

21 YOM WAS HIT IN THE EYE WITH A GEL *** BALL THAT WAS SHOT OUT OF A GUN LAST NIGHT. DX: TRAUMATIC IRITIS, HYPHEMA

Age 39 · Female · Eyeball · Other · 2024

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

Age 16 · Female · Eyeball · Contusions, Abr. · 2024

16YOF WAS HIT IN THE RIGHT EYE WITH A *** DART SHOT FROM A *** GUN DX: ABRASION OF RIGHT EYE

Age 19 · Male · Eyeball · Other · 2024

19YOM WAS SHOT IN THE LEFT EYE WITH AN *** DX TRAUMATIC HYPHEMA OF EYE

Age 5 · Male · Eyeball · Other · 2024

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

Age 4 · Male · Eyeball · Other · 2024

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.

9/9/2012 · Incident, No Injury · HASBRO INC. · New Jersey

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.

9/5/2023 · Injury, First Aid Received by Non-Medical Professional · Blip Toys LLC · Maine

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.

9/20/2017 · Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received · HASBRO INC. · Indiana

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

9/1/2012 · Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received · HASBRO INC. · Texas

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.

8/28/2025 · No Incident, No Injury · MINIBLASTER · Texas

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.

7/3/2018 · Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received · HASBRO INC. · New York

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/

7/22/2020 · Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received · What Kids Want! Inc. · Texas

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]

7/2/2022 · Injury, First Aid Received by Non-Medical Professional · HASBRO INC. · New York

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.

Compare beyond Toys & Children's Recreation

Nationwide peers by danger score, ER volume & hospitalization

Three PlainSafety-derived comparison paths for Toy Guns With Projectiles: cross-group products nearest on danger score (38/100), estimated annual ER visits (2,051/yr), and hospitalization share (3.1%). Same-group neighbours stay in Related Products above.

Read with this product

About this data

CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports form the basis of this page. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments.

According to PlainSafety's CPSC NEISS corpus ranking, Toy Guns With Projectiles ranks #256 of 838 scored CPSC product categories by PlainSafety danger score and #421 of 838 by 20-year estimated ER injury volume.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does toy guns with projectiles rank on danger score versus ER volume?

Among 838 scored CPSC product categories, toy guns with projectiles ranks #256 by PlainSafety danger score (38/100) and #421 by 20-year estimated ER injury volume (2,051/yr). The two rankings come from the same NEISS extract and are not the same order.

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.

Data on Toy Guns With Projectiles is compiled directly from CPSC NEISS and SaferProducts.gov records, current through 2024. See our methodology for details.

Disclaimer: This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.

PlainSafety is rendered directly from U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall and incident records, no number is typed in by an editor. Product recall timelines and hazard labels are drawn from CPSC recall records for this product. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of August 2026.