Gun violence in the United States
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Shooting of President
William McKinley in 1901; McKinley died eight days later from his wounds.
Gun violence in the United States results in thousands of deaths and injuries annually.
[1] According to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2013, firearms were used in 73,505 nonfatal injuries (23.23 per 100,000 U.S. citizens)
[2] and 11,208 deaths by homicide (3.5 per 100,000),
[3] 21,175 by suicide with a firearm,
[4] 505 deaths due to accidental discharge of a firearm,
[4] and 281 deaths due to firearms-use with "undetermined intent"
[5] for a total of 33,636 deaths due to "Injury by firearms",
[6] or 10.6 deaths per 100,000 people.
[4] 1.3% of all deaths in the country were related to firearms.
[1][7]
In 2010, according to the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 67% of all
homicides in the U.S. were conducted using a firearm.
[8] According to the
FBI, in 2012, there were 8,855 total firearm-related homicides in the US, with 6,371 of those attributed to handguns.
[9] 61% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. are suicides.
[10] In 2010, there were 19,392 firearm-related suicides, and 11,078 firearm-related homicides in the U.S.
[11] In 2010, 358 murders were reported involving a
rifle while 6,009 were reported involving a
handgun; another 1,939 were reported with an unspecified type of firearm.
[12]
Firearms killed 13,286 people in the U.S. in 2015, excluding suicide.
[13] Approximately 1.4 million people have been killed by firearms in the U.S. between 1968 and 2011.
[13]
In 2010, gun violence cost U.S. taxpayers approximately $516 million in direct hospital costs.
[14]
Gun violence is most common in poor urban areas and frequently associated with
gang violence, often involving male juveniles or young adult males.
[15][16] Although mass shootings have been covered extensively in the media, mass shootings account for a small fraction of gun-related deaths
[10] and the frequency of these events steadily declined between 1994 and 2007, rising between 2007 and 2013.
[17][18]
Legislation at the
federal, state, and local levels has attempted to address gun violence through a variety of methods, including restricting firearms purchases by youths and other "at-risk" populations, setting waiting periods for firearm purchases, establishing
gun buyback programs, law enforcement and policing strategies, stiff sentencing of gun law violators, education programs for parents and children, and community-outreach programs. Despite widespread concern about the impacts of gun violence on public health, Congress has banned the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) from conducting research on gun violence.
[19]
