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- The U.S. has the highest overall firearm mortality rate (eight times the combined rate of other high income countries);
- The U.S. has a high proportion of firearm homicides (nineteen times higher in the U.S. than in high-income nations);
- The U.S. has the highest firearm suicide rate (five times higher than the rate for high income countries and nearly seven times higher than the rate for upper-middle-income countries).
- The U.S. overall firearm-related death rate is nearly 12 times higher;
- The U.S. firearm homicide rate is nearly 16 times higher;
- The U.S. firearm suicide rate is nearly 11 times higher;
- The U.S. unintentional firearm death rate is 9 times higher.
In 2002, there were 30,242 firearm-related deaths in the United States, including 17,108 (57%) suicides, 12,129 (40%) homicides (including 300 deaths due to legal intervention/war), and 1,005 (3%) undetermined/unintentional firearm deaths.
CDC/National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 53, No. 5, October 12, 2004, p.77.
In the United States in 2002, 67% of all homicides and 54% of all suicides resulted from the use of a firearm.
CDC/National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 53, No. 5, October 12, 2004, p. 32.
Firearm injuries are the second leading cause of injury death in the United States, and have killed more than 28,000 Americans every year since 1972.
CDC/National Center for Health Statistics, 2004.
In 2002, the demographic groups (by age, race, and gender) with the highest firearm injury death rates in the United States were black males aged 20-24 (105.5 homicide deaths per 100,000 population), followed by white males aged 85 and older (40.9 suicide deaths per 100,000 population).
CDC/National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, WISQARS Injury Mortality Reports 1999-2002 http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars
More than 700 women every year are shot and killed as victims of domestic violence in the United States, representing 20% of all female homicide victims.
Homicide Trends in the US. Intimate homicide and Homicides by relationship and weapon type. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2002.
The suicide rate for all U.S. youth aged 10-19 increased from 1980-1995, and more than doubled among youth aged 10-14. Suicide rates among black youth showed the sharpest increase during this period, approaching the rate for white youth. Firearm-related suicides accounted for 96% of the increase in the suicide rate for blacks aged 10-19.
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC), March 20, 1998, pp. 193-196.
The rate of death from firearms in the United States is eight times higher than that in its economic counterparts in other parts of the world.
In the United States, more than 16 cases of nonfatal, unintentional gunshot injuries occur for every unintentional shooting death; nonfatal firearm assaults outnumber gun homicides by a ratio of 4:1. In contrast, firearm suicide attempts result in death in approximately 85% of cases.
Kellermann AL and Waeckerle JF. Preventing Firearm Injuries. Ann Emerg Med July 1998; 32:77-79.
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