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Guns have potential to greatly amplify violence, as they can inflict serious — often deadly — injuries on many people in a short time. In the United States, gun violence is a major public health problem and a leading cause of premature death.
Burden of Gun Violence The burden of gun violence in the United States vastly outpaces that in comparable countries: • Eighty percent of all firearm deaths in about two dozen populous, high-income countries — Australia, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and 18 others — occur in the U.S., and 87 percent of all children ages 0-14 killed by firearms in this group of nations are U.S. children killed in the United States.1 • Each year, 38,000 people in the United States die as a result of gun violence, and almost 85,000 more suffer non-fatal gun injuries.2 Gun violence affects people of all ages and races in the U.S. but has a disproportionate impact on young adults, males and racial/ethnic minorities: • Among U.S. residents ages 15-24, homicide is the fourth leading cause of death for non-Hispanic whites. For those 15-34, homicide is the second leading cause of death for Hispanics and the leading cause of death for non-Hispanic blacks.3 Guns are a weapon of choice for mass homicides and suicide: • While most gun violence does not involve a mass shooting, in 2017 there were 346 mass shootings, killing 437 people and injuring another 1,802.4 • Guns are the leading method of suicide in the U.S., accounting for half of all suicide deaths. Although most people attempting suicide choose drug overdose, only 2 percent of these drug overdose attempts end in death, compared with 85-91 percent of gun suicide attempts.5 Gun violence cost the U.S. $229 billion in 2015, or an average of $700 per gun in America: • The societal costs of firearm assault injury include work loss, medical/mental health care, emergency transportation, police/criminal justice activities, insurance claims processing, employer costs and decreased quality of life.