Government stats claiming that unintentional or accidental gun discharges killed 77 minors in the United States in 2015 has apparently understated the scope of the problem.

A fresh review of gun shootings by the A.P. and USA TODAY Network revealed that accidental shootings killed least 141 minors during last year. The estimated figure is 83 per cent higher than what the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported.

Mark Rosenberg, a former director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention & Control, said all unintentional gun deaths involving kids could have been prevented.

Commenting on the freshly estimated figure of accidental shooting deaths, Rosenberg said, “My God, how did we, as parents, as a nation, tolerate these deaths? These shooting deaths where a toddler kills a sibling or where a child is gunned down by a gun that they found in their home - how did we ever put up with that?”

While advocates for stricter gun laws have long been arguing that several of the shooting deaths are preventable, and the undercount is crucial as it can skew the public policy debate; lobbyists representing the gun industry have been using the CDC stats to argue that such accidental deaths are so rare that voluntary education and not additional laws are required.