The happiest of seasons is also among the deadliest: Unintentional shootings spike in the U.S. during the holidays and are more likely to occur at that time than any other time of the year, according to an analysis by The Associated Press and the USA TODAY Network.

In all, 32 people were killed nationwide and 59 injured over the past two years from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day, which the analysis identified as the most likely day for accidental shootings each year.

The victims were mostly male and young, with a median age of 19. Nearly half the shootings were self-inflicted, and most occurred in their own homes.

The victims are people such as Tezlar Wayne Ross, a 20-year-old from Gaffney, South Carolina, who killed himself while playing with a handgun at his home last New Year's Eve. His girlfriend and two other friends witnessed the accident in Ross' bedroom, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said. Alcohol was not involved.

"They were absolutely clowning around," Fowler said. "And sometimes that innocent fun, especially with a gun, can get you in trouble. A weapon like that is not a toy."

Several factors contribute to the increase:

• Children and teenagers are out of school for the holidays and have access to unsecured guns at their homes and those of relatives and friends.
• Adults are drinking alcohol and inattentive to gun safety or their children.
• Tens of thousands of new guns are given and received as gifts.
• It's a popular time of year for hunting.

The count does not include three deaths and 16 injuries involving guns fired into the air to celebrate the New Year.

The AP and USA TODAY Network looked at holiday shootings after an earlier investigation found accidental shootings involving children happen far more often than federal government statistics show.

Based on incidents compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, they found more than 320 minors were killed by unintentional shootings over a 2 1/2 year period that ended June 30.

FBI data show guns are popular gifts for the holidays: The agency conducted more than 185,700 background checks requested by firearms dealers on Nov. 25, the shopping day known as Black Friday this year. That was a single-day record in the program's 18-year history.

The AP-USA TODAY Network analysis found the rate of accidental shootings spikes by about 50 percent during the nine days studied compared to the rest of the year.

Gun-violence researcher Garen Wintemute of the University of California, Davis said he was unaware of any studies showing an increase in unintentional shootings around the holidays, so the news outlets' findings "might be breaking new ground."

"Lots of people get new firearms over the holidays and might be unfamiliar with them -- and not applying the basic rules of good conduct with firearms," he said.

Alcohol, too, may play a role, he added.

Researchers said the AP-USA TODAY Network research was the type of study that should be conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the agency is hamstrung under a 1996 law that blocked funding for research that could be used to advocate gun control.