USAFacts analyzed data from two government agencies regarding the role that firearms play in the country’s suicide rate and the increase in homicide rates.
The numbers are concerning.
The national homicide rate increased by 30% in 2020, the largest increase in a single year in over a century. Firearm homicide rates rose by 44% between 2019 and 2021, while homicides from other causes decreased.
The firearm homicide rate has decreased since the peak of the early 1990s of 6.8 victims per 100,000 people to below 4 per 100,000 in the early 2010s. Since then, it has returned to levels seen in the 1990s. Most victims were killed after an argument. Less than 2% of firearm homicides were due to gang violence.
Shootings doubled between 2019 and 2021, but the number of victims killed remained virtually unchanged. In 2021, 103 people were killed in shootings, accounting for about 0.5% of homicides reported by the CDC that year.
In 2021, 48,830 people in the U.S. were killed with a firearm. Fifty-four percent of these deaths were suicides. Overall, suicide was the 11th leading cause of death that year.
The proportion of firearm-related suicides was lower among younger individuals: they accounted for 40% of firearm deaths among those aged 20 to 35. After age 45, most firearm deaths were suicides. By age 75, 94% of firearm deaths were suicides.
The number of suicides was similar for people in their 20s (4,606 deaths) and those in their fifties (4,056 deaths), although suicide represented a larger percentage of firearm deaths for older Americans.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, call 911 or talk to someone who can help you. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline also offers confidential support 24 hours a day.
Source: USAFacts