Women Against Gun Violence

Gun Statistics

Gun Violence

The United States has by far the highest rate of firearms death compared to any other industrialized nation. (Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health. "Racial Disparities and Firearm Deaths Among Youth.")

The rate of firearm homicide in the United States is 19 times higher than that of 35 other high-income countries. (Krug EG, Powell KE, Dahlberg LL. Firearm-related deaths in the United States and 35 other high- and upper-middle-income countries. International Journal of Epidemiology. 1998; 27: 214-21.)

Firearm injuries are the second leading cause of injury death in the U.S., and have killed more than 28,000 Americans each year since 1972. (CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, 2004.)

In 2004, 29,569 people were killed by guns in America- 81 people a day- including 16,750 suicides; 11,624 homicides; and 649 unintentional or accidental shootings. (WISQARS, Injury Mortality Reports. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control. Available at: http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html.)

About 3% of firearm fatalities in 2001 were unintentional, claiming the lives of 802 people and disproportionately affecting males. (Frattarloi S, Webster DW, Teret S. Unintentional Gun Injuries, Firearm Design, and Prevention: What We Know, What We Need to Know, and What Can Be Done. Journal of Urban Health. 2002; 79:49-59.)

California's gun homicide rate remains high: 1730 gun homicides in 2004 (4.8 per 100,000 populations). (Crime in California 2004, CA Dept. of Justice).

About two-thirds of all homicides in the state are committed with handguns. (Homicide in California 2003, CA Dept. of Justice.)

Guns and Youth

In the US approximately 2,500 black youth (aged 15-24) die annually from gun homicide, 950 Hispanic youths and 600 white youth/for gun suicides, its about 1,600 white youths annually, 300 black youths and 200 Hispanic youths. (Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health. "Racial Disparities and Firearm Deaths Among Youth.")

Between 20 percent and 50 percent of children in the United States are touched by violence, either as victims or, even more commonly, as witnesses. (RAND Center for Domestic and International Health Security, "Helping Children Cope with Violence: A School-based Program That Works". Research Highlights, 2005.)

For every child killed by a gun, four are injured. (Annest JL, Mercy JA, Gibson DR, Ryan GW. National estimates of nonfatal firearm-related injuries. Journal of the American Medical Association 1995;273(22): 1749-1754.)

Children as young as 3 to 4 years are able to pull the trigger of most handguns. (Naureckas SM, Galanter C, Naureckas ET, Donovan M, Christoffel KK. "Children's and women's ability to fire handguns". Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1995; 149; 1318-1322.)

Among youth ages 15-24, firearms rank as the leading cause of death for blacks and the second leading cause of death for whites and Hispanic youth. (Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health. "Racial Disparities and Firearm Deaths Among Youth.")

A black youth in the U.S is 18 times more likely than a white youth to die in a firearm homicide. However, white youth are more likely than Black (or Hispanic) youth to commit suicide with a firearm. (Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health. "Racial Disparities and Firearm Deaths Among Youth.")

Of American high school students in 2001, 17% had carried a weapon including guns, knives or clubs in the 30 days before the survey- a 33 % decrease from 1991. (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Online http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/YRBSS)

In the 2004 Boston Youth Survey, 41% of the 9th through 12th graders surveyed reported that it would be either very or fairly easy to get a gun. (Harvard Injury Control Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health. "Racial Disparities and Firearm Deaths Among Youth.")

The average number of school-associated violent events with multiple victims has increased from one event per school year in 1992 to five events in 1998. (Kaufman P, Chen X, Choy SP, et al. Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2000. U.S. Departments of Education and Justice. NCES 2001-017/NCJ-184176. Washington, D.C.: 2000. Available at: CDC Safe USA website: http://www.cdc.gov/safeusa/youthviolencw.htm.)

1,079,301 high school students across America take a weapon to school at least once every 30 days. (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, 2005.)

Guns in the Home:

A gun kept in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in an unintentional shooting, a criminal assault or homicide, or an attempted or completed suicide than to be used to injure or kill in self-defense. (Kellermann, AL et al., "Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home." The Journal of Truama, Infection, and Critical Care, Vol. 45, No. 2, August 1998.)

By a margin of 5 to 1, Americans feel less safe rather than safer as a more people in their community begin to carry guns. (Hemenway, David; Azrael, Deborah; Miller, Matthew. "U.S National Attitudes Concerning Gun Carrying." Injury Prevention.2001; 7:282-285.)

A new study involving 201 parents and an equal number of their children has found that 39 percent of kids knew the location of their parents' firearms, while 22 percent said they had handled the weapons, despite their parents' assertions to the contrary. (Boodman, Sandra. Washington Post. "In Harm's Way: Guns and Kids." May 30, 2006; HE01.)

Parents with guns in their homes become less vigilant about how they store those guns as their children grow older, a new study suggest - even though older children are at far more risk of being harmed by those guns than younger children are. (Washington Post, "At Home, Gun Safety Slackens as Risk Grows". August 11, 2006; A02.)

Guns and Suicide:

Suicide takes the lives of more than 30,000 Americans every year. (National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Available at: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/suicideprevention/costtonation.asp.)

Every day 80 Americans take their own lives and over 1,900 Americans visit emergency departments for self-inflicted injury. (National Strategy for Suicide Prevention. Available at: http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/suicideprevention/costtonation.asp.)

Each year there are approximately 10 suicides for every 100,000 youth. (American Association of Suicidology, Youth Suicide Fact Sheet. March 19, 2004. Available at www.suicidology.org.)

Approximately 11 young people between the age of 15-24 die every day by suicide. (American Association of Suicidology, Youth Suicide Fact Sheet. March 19, 2004. Available at www.suicidology.org.)

Firearms remain the most commonly used suicide method among youth, regardless of race or gender, nearly accounting for almost three of five (57%) commits suicides. (American Association of Suicidology, Youth Suicide Fact Sheet. March 19, 2004. Available at www.suicidology.org.)

Within every 2 hours and 15 minutes, a person under the age of 25 commits suicide. (American Association of Suicidology, Youth Suicide Fact Sheet. March 19, 2004. Available at www.suicidology.org.)

Female teens are much more likely to attempt suicide than males, but males are four times more likely to actually kill themselves. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2002) Youth risk behavior surveillance- United States 1999. CDC Surveillance Summaries, June 9, 2000. MMWR 2000; 49 (No. SS-5), p.5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. WISQARS.)

Over 60% of teens who kill themselves use guns. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. WISQARS.)

Guns and Domestic Violence:

American women who are killed by their intimate partners are more likely to be killed with guns than by all other methods combined. (Rothman E. F., Hemenway D, Miller M, and Azael D. Batterers' Use of Guns to Threaten Intimate Partners. Journal of the American Medical Women's Association, 2005. 60 (1): p. 62- 68.)

A recent study shows that access to firearms increases the risk of intimate partner homicide more than five times compared to instances where there are no weapons. In addition, abusers who possess guns tend to inflict the most severe abuse on their partners. (J.C. Campbell, Webster J, Koziol-McLain, CR, et al. 2003. Risk Factors For Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results From A Multi-Site Case Control Study. American Journal of Public Health. 93 (7).)

Women are twice as likely to be shot and killed by intimate partners as they are to be murdered by strangers using any type of weapon. (Tjaden P., Thoennes N. Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice: 2000. NCJ 18781.) (Rothman E. F., Hemenway D, Miller M, and Azael D. Batterers' Use of Guns to Threaten Intimate Partners. Journal of the American Medical Women's Association, 2005. 60 (1): p. 62- 68.)

Firearms- especially handguns- were the most common weapon used by males to murder females in 2003. (When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2003 Homicide Data: Females Murdered by Males in Single Victim/ Single Offender Incidents. September 2005. Violence Policy Center. Washington, DC. Available at: http://www.vpc.org/studies/wmmw2005.pdf.)

In homicides where males used firearms to kill females, handguns were clearly the weapon of choice over rifles and shotguns. In 2003, 77 percent of female firearm homicide victims were killed with handguns. (When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2003 Homicide Data: Females Murdered by Males in Single Victim/ Single Offender Incidents. September 2005. Violence Policy Center. Washington, DC. Available at: http://www.vpc.org/studies/wmmw2005.pdf.)

Approximately 700 American women are shot and killed by intimate partners each year. (Homicide trends in the U.S Intimate homicide and Homicides by relationships and weapon type. Washington D.C.: U.S Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; 2002.)

The cost of domestic violence is nearly $67 billion per year, roughly 15% of total U.S crime costs. (Miller T, Cohen M, Wiersema B. Victim costs and consequences: a new look. Washington, D.C.: U.S Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice; 1996.NCJ 155282)

In 2002, background checks noting domestic violence misdemeanor convictions and restraining orders kept 22,000 abusers from purchasing firearms. (Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2002, BOJS; Disarming Domestic Violence Abusers, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, September 2003.)