Gun violence is a serious problem in the United States, impacting far more people than you might think. Here are some facts and statistics regarding the rates of gun crime:
- At least 297 people in the U.S. are shot by a gun each and every day. This includes people shot in homicides, assaults, suicides, suicide attempts, unintentional shootings and police shootings. Eighty-nine people die from gun violence each day, 208 are shot but survive. (Source: The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence)
- Gun deaths have been steadily rising in recent years, so much so that for the first time in decades, the annual number of gun-related deaths in 2015 is expected to surpass annual automobile-related deaths. In 2013 (the most recent data available at the time) the two were virtually even – 33,804 people killed in car accidents and 33,636 people killed in firearm deaths. (Schechter, 2015) By 2015, guns were taking the lives of more than 36 thousand people in the U.S. (Wenner-Moyer, 2017)
- 31,672 people were killed by guns in 2010, and another 73,505 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for nonfatal bullet wounds. There were 337,960 nonfatal violent crimes committed with guns. Of those 31,672 dead, 61% were suicides. The vast majority of the rest were homicides by people who knew one another, which dispels the myth that random criminals are responsible for most gun crimes. (Shermer, 2013) Very few killings are committed by “criminals”; most involve angry or distraught gun owners who decide to kill those around them.
- In an average year between 32,000 and 36,000 people die from gun violence and more than 100,000 more are injured. 683 children and teens will kill themselves with a gun, and 3,067 will die from gun violence. 679 people are shot and injured by police (351 killed), and 613 are killed accidentally. Another 17,352 use a gun to commit suicide. (Grunwald, 2011)
- Rates of homicide by firearm per 1 million people, by selected country
- 29.7 – United States
- 5.1 – Canada
- 4.1 – Sweden
- 1.9 – Germany
- 1.4 – Australia
(Source: United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime; USA Today, 10-5-2015)
- Gun violence in the U.S. is the worst among all wealthy nations, dwarfing what the rest of these countries experience combined. In a study of 23 high-income countries, the U.S. had 80% of the gun deaths, along with a gun homicide rate nearly 20-times higher than the rest of the sample. (Grunwald, 2011)
- Put in perspective, the number of people killed each and every year from gun violence is equivalent to around nine or ten 9/11 terrorist attacks. Yet while we’ve literally spent trillions of dollars trying to prevent another 9/11, these victims slip away in silence each year. Little is said and little is done.
- The U.S. has just 5% of the world’s population, but is home to one-third of the world’s mass shootings. (Miller, 2016)
Statistics on gun deaths around the world
Here are the gun deaths per 100,000 people by a sampling of countries and where they rank on the list in terms of gun deaths:
1) Columbia: 59.3
2) Venezuela: 35.7
3) El Salvador: 32.2
4) Brazil: 18.7
5) Jamaica: 18.6
6) Uruguay: 13.8
7) Bahamas: 13.8
8) Ecuador: 13.2
9) Argentina: 11.5
10) Mexico: 11.2
11) Burundi: 10.9
12) United States: 10.5
13) Panama: 9.0
17) South Africa: 6.9
22) Nicaragua: 4.6
23) Thailand: 4.1
27) Switzerland: 3.0
28) France: 2.8
31) Austria: 2.6
33) Israel: 2.1
34) Canada: 2.1
39) Norway: 1.8
50) Italy: 1.3
56) Germany: 1.0
59) Australia: 0.9
66) India: 0.6
75) England & Whales: 0.2
79) Japan: 0.0
(Pearlstein, 2016)
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