Art, obsession, and identity
Since 2020, gun violence has been the leading cause of death among children and teenagers living in the US, ahead of car accidents and illnesses like cancer. In 2023, 2,581 children and teenagers were killed by a firearm. These shocking numbers put the US in a category all of its own. No other comparable countries have gun violence as a leading cause of death for children—in fact, it doesn't even make the top four list elsewhere.
In this gallery, we looked at statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FBI, among other organizations, to try and answer some pertinent questions about gun deaths in America. Click on and take a look at the numbers.
The most recent data available from the CDC, is from 2023. In that year, 46,728 people died from gun-related injuries in America.
This number includes gun murders and those who’ve taken their own lives with a gun.
The figure also takes into account unintentional deaths, deaths where law enforcement was involved, and those who died in undetermined circumstances.
The 46,728 figure excludes deaths in which gunshot injuries were not the main cause of death (though they may have contributed to deaths). This is because the CDC fatality numbers are based on the single cause of death recorded in the official death certificates.
The majority of gun deaths in the US are suicides. In 2023, 27,300 people took their own lives with a gun. This represents 58% of all gun-related deaths in the country.
When it comes to murders, the number was 17,927, which accounts for 38% of gun-related deaths in the US in 2023.
When it comes to the other three categories, there were 535 unintentional deaths, 611 gun-related deaths where law enforcement was involved, and 400 people died in undetermined circumstances.
Quite a lot. In 2023, 79% of murders involved a firearm.
The 2021 number (48,830) is the highest since 1968, which is as far back as the CDC online records go.
In 2023, 27,300 suicides involved a gun.
Unlike the murder data, this percentage remained stable throughout the last few years.
The numbers have been slightly decreasing since 2021, except in gun deaths among children which are increasing every year.
The figure is 17,6% higher than the one five years earlier, and it also indicated a whopping 39% increase from the previous decade.
In 2023, there were 17,927 gun murders. This shows a 8,7% decrease from 2022.
This represents a 24% increase from 2019 and a 28% increase over five years. The 2020 figure indicates a 60% increase in a decade.
Considering the 2023 figure, the number of gun suicides went up 12% over five years and 29% over 10 years.
2023 had the most gun suicides when compared to any other year (27,300).
The numbers do not account for the growing population. Analyzing the data on a per capita basis, there were 13.7 gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2023.
The rate is the highest ever since the 1990s, but in 1974 the US had a peak of 16.3 gun deaths per 100,000 people, which was considerably higher than the 2023 figure.
In 2023, there were 8 gun suicides per 100,000 people, whereas in 1977 the rate was 7.7. One caveat should be noted though: the CDC numbers between 1968 and 1978 also contained deaths caused by explosives, in addition to firearms.
In 2020, the states with the highest rates of gun-related deaths overall (including all categories) were Mississippi (29.4 per 100,000 people), Louisiana (28.1), Alabama (25.7), and New Mexico (25.3).
The states with the lowest number of gun-related deaths in 2020 were Massachusetts (3.7), New Jersey (4.6), New York (4.7), Rhode Island (4.8), and Connecticut (6.2).
A 2018 study looked at 195 countries and territories, and found that in 2016 (the most recent year in the study) the US had a rate of 10.6 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people. This was considerably higher than countries such as France (2.7), Canada (2.1), Australia (1.0), Germany (0.9), and Spain (0.6).
But the US had much lower gun death rates when compared to countries such as El Salvador (39.2 per 100,000 people), Venezuela (38.7), Guatemala (32.3), Colombia (25.9), and Honduras (22.5).
The definition of the term “mass shooting” is not universal. The FBI, for instance, classifies its data as “active shooter incidents,” which is defined as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” According to this definition, 105 people died in 2023 (excluding the shooter).
The Gun Violence Archive uses another definition, which takes into account incidents where four or more people are shot (even when there are not fatal victims). According to this definition, 729 people died in 2023 (also excluding the shooter).
Without a clear definition it is harder to analyze data. Still, using the FBI's “active shooter incidents” definition, there has been an increase between 2000 (three incidents) and 2023 (48 incidents).
According to FBI data, handguns accounted for 59% of the murders and non-negligent manslaughters in the year 2023.
Rifles accounted for 3%, shotguns were used in 1% of murders, and the remainder were classified as “type not stated.”
Sources: (Pew Research Center) (CDC) (FBI) (IHME) (RAND Corporation) (Gun Violence Archive)
See also: Global gun control at a glance: How the world handles mass shootings
Gun violence is the most common cause of death for children in the US
What is the number of gun deaths in America?
LIFESTYLE Statistics
Since 2020, gun violence has been the leading cause of death among children and teenagers living in the US, ahead of car accidents and illnesses like cancer. In 2023, 2,581 children and teenagers were killed by a firearm. These shocking numbers put the US in a category all of its own. No other comparable countries have gun violence as a leading cause of death for children—in fact, it doesn't even make the top four list elsewhere.
In this gallery, we looked at statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the FBI, among other organizations, to try and answer some pertinent questions about gun deaths in America. Click on and take a look at the numbers.