STATISTICS

Gun violence exacts an enormous toll on American society—claiming tens of thousands of lives each year. The below statistics lay out the devastating scope of this uniquely American crisis. 

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41,000 AMERICANS DIE FROM GUN VIOLENCE EVERY YEAR—AN AVERAGE OF more than 110 PER DAY1

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Click the map to see annual state-specific totals.

Source: CDC WONDER


America has the weakest gun laws and the most guns—393 million—of any comparable nation.2

The US accounts for just 4% of the world’s population but 35% of global firearm suicides.3

Americans are 25 times more likely to be killed in a gun homicide than people in other high-income countries.4

America Leads High-Income Nations in Gun Violence

Nearly every American will know at least one victim of gun violence in their lifetime.5

Over 1 million Americans have been shot in the past decade, and gun violence rates are rising across the country.6

In 2020, gun deaths reached their highest level in at least 40 years, with 45,222 deaths that year alone.7

Gun Deaths Are on the Rise Nationally

Use the menu on to filter gun deaths by intent.

Suicides, homicides, police shootings—gun violence takes many forms, often dictated by who and where you are.

The Majority of Gun Deaths Are Suicides, While More Than a Third Are Homicides

GUN ACCESS TRIPLES SUICIDE RISK.8 THE MAJORITY OF SUICIDES —59%—INVOLVE A GUN.9

Guns Are by Far the Most Common Means of Suicide

Gun homicide has a disproportionate impact on underserved communities of color in American cities.

Roughly half of all gun homicides take place in just 127 cities comprising less than a quarter of the total US population.10

Black men make up 52% of all gun homicide victims in the US, despite comprising less than 6% of the population.11

Gun Homicides Disproportionately Affect Black Americans

UNARMED BLACK CIVILIANS ARE FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE SHOT AND KILLED BY POLICE THAN UNARMED WHITE CIVILIANS.12

Black Men Face the Highest Risk of Police Violence

Domestic violence victims are five times more likely to be killed when their abuser has access to a gun.13

25 million US adults have been threatened or nonfatally injured by an intimate partner with a firearm. 14

Women in the United States are 21 times more likely to be killed with a gun than women in other high-income countries.15

The Majority of Intimate Partner Homicides Are with Guns

3 million children are directly exposed to gun violence each year, resulting in death, injury, and lasting trauma.16

Guns Are the Leading Cause of Death for Children under 18

THE TOLL OF GUN VIOLENCE IS ENORMOUS AND HORRIFIC. WE NEED LEADERS WITH THE COURAGE TO FIGHT IT.

STATE BY STATE
America’s gun violence problem is felt in every corner of the nation, but different states across the country experience the crisis in very different ways.

TAKE ACTION

Students, veterans, survivors: Americans from all walks of life across the country are standing up for commonsense gun reform. If you’re fed up with politicians who care more about protecting gun lobby profits than your safety, stand with us in this fight.

Learn More
  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2020 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2021. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2020, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/ucd-icd10.html on Feb 18, 2022.
    Figures represent an average of the five years of most recently available data: 2016 to 2020.[]
  2. Aaron Karp, “Estimating Global Civilian–Held Firearms Numbers,” Small Arms Survey, June 2018, http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/T-Briefing-Papers/SAS-BP-Civilian-Firearms-Numbers.pdf.[]
  3. Mohsen Naghavi, et al., “Global Mortality from Firearms, 1990–2016,” JAMA 320, no. 8 (2018): 792–814.[]
  4. Erin Grinshteyn and David Hemenway, “Violent Death Rates in the US Compared to Those of the Other High-Income Countries, 2015,” Preventive Medicine 123, (2019): 20–26.[]
  5. Bindu Kalesan, Janice Weinberg, and Sandro Galea, “Gun Violence in Americans’ Social Network During Their Lifetime,” Preventive Medicine 93 (2016): 53–56. See also, K Parker, et al., “America’s Complex Relationship with Guns: An In-depth Look at the Attitudes and Experiences of U.S. Adults,” Pew Research Center’s Social & Democratic Trends Project, June 22, 2017,  https://pewrsr.ch/2txQZSP.[]
  6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), “Fatal and Nonfatal Injury Reports,” last accessed Mar. 20, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars. Figures represent an average of the five years of most recently available data: 2014 to 2018. See also, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, last accessed June 25, 2020, hcupnet.ahrq.gov.[]
  7. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS. UNDERLYING CAUSE OF DEATH 1999-2020 ON CDC WONDER ONLINE DATABASE, RELEASED IN 2021. DATA ARE FROM THE MULTIPLE CAUSE OF DEATH FILES, 1999-2020, AS COMPILED FROM DATA PROVIDED BY THE 57 VITAL STATISTICS JURISDICTIONS THROUGH THE VITAL STATISTICS COOPERATIVE PROGRAM. ACCESSED AT HTTP://WONDER.CDC.GOV/UCD-ICD10.HTML ON FEB 18, 2022.
    []
  8. Andrew Anglemyer, Tara Horvath, and George Rutherford, “The Accessibility of Firearms and Risk for Suicide and Homicide Victimization among Household Members: A Systematic Review and Meta–analysis,” Annals of Internal Medicine 160, no. 2 (2014): 101–110.[]
  9. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS. UNDERLYING CAUSE OF DEATH 1999-2020 ON CDC WONDER ONLINE DATABASE, RELEASED IN 2021. DATA ARE FROM THE MULTIPLE CAUSE OF DEATH FILES, 1999-2020, AS COMPILED FROM DATA PROVIDED BY THE 57 VITAL STATISTICS JURISDICTIONS THROUGH THE VITAL STATISTICS COOPERATIVE PROGRAM. ACCESSED AT HTTP://WONDER.CDC.GOV/UCD-ICD10.HTML ON FEB 18, 2022.
    FIGURES REPRESENT AN AVERAGE OF THE FIVE YEARS OF MOST RECENTLY AVAILABLE DATA: 2016 TO 2020.[]
  10. Aliza Aufrichtig, Lois Beckett, Jan Diehm, and Jamiles Lartey, “Want to Fix Gun Violence in America? Go Local,” The Guardian, January 9, 2017, https://bit.ly/2i6kaKw.[]
  11. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS. UNDERLYING CAUSE OF DEATH 1999-2020 ON CDC WONDER ONLINE DATABASE, RELEASED IN 2021. DATA ARE FROM THE MULTIPLE CAUSE OF DEATH FILES, 1999-2020, AS COMPILED FROM DATA PROVIDED BY THE 57 VITAL STATISTICS JURISDICTIONS THROUGH THE VITAL STATISTICS COOPERATIVE PROGRAM. ACCESSED AT HTTP://WONDER.CDC.GOV/UCD-ICD10.HTML ON FEB 18, 2022.
    Figures represent an average of the five years of most recently available data: 2016 to 2020.[]
  12. Aldina Mesic, et al., “The Relationship between Structural Racism and Black-white Disparities in Fatal Police Shootings at the State Level,” Journal of the National Medical Association 110, no. 2 (2018): 106–116.[]
  13. JC Campbell, et al., “Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results from a Multisite Case Control Study,” American Journal of Public Health 93, no.7 (2003): 1089–1097.[]
  14. Adhia, A., et al., “Nonfatal Use of Firearms in Intimate Partner Violence: Results of a National Survey,” Preventive Medicine 147, (2021).[]
  15. Erin Grinshteyn and David Hemenway, “Violent Death Rates in the US Compared to Those of the Other High-Income Countries, 2015,” Preventive Medicine 123, (2019): 20–26.[]
  16. Katherine Fowler, et al., “Childhood Firearm Injuries in the United States,” Pediatrics 140, no. 1 (2017).[]