Far more people die from gun violence in US than in other rich countries, report says
BMJ 2024; 387 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q2430 (Published 04 November 2024) Cite this as: BMJ 2024;387:q2430
Gun violence in the US is the leading cause of death among children and teenagers, drives down life expectancy, and cost the economy around $557bn in 2022, says a report from the Commonwealth Fund, a non-profit organisation that researches healthcare issues and promotes improved quality and efficiency in healthcare.1
The study used data from the global burden of disease study from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Mass shootings in the US get much media attention but represent less than 2% of gun deaths in the US, the report says. Mass shootings are those in which four or more people are shot or killed, excluding the shooter. There were 656 mass shootings in the US in 2023, reports the Gun Violence Archive,2 and at least 385 so far this year.
An earlier Commonwealth Fund study showed that in 2019 the US had 10.4 deaths per 100 000 from gun violence, far exceeding the second and third highest rates of 2.2 per 100 000 in France and 2.1 per 100 000 in Switzerland.3
Death rates from gun violence in the US are far higher than in other high income countries and “are closer to rates seen in countries experiencing active conflict,” the report said. Firearm deaths in nearly all the 50 US states were higher than in most other countries. Among US racial and ethnic groups, black people and American Indian and Alaska Native people had the highest firearms mortality.
Worldwide, the US ranks in the 93rd centile for overall firearm mortality, the 92nd for firearm deaths in children and teenagers, and the 96th for firearm deaths in women, the report said.
The US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, declared gun violence a public health crisis earlier this year.4 He said that more than half (54%) of US adults or their family members had experienced a firearm related incident in their lives.
The Commonwealth Fund’s report calls US firearm deaths preventable. Asked what could be done, coauthor Evan Gumas told The BMJ that Singapore, which had no firearm related deaths in 2019, requires gun owners to pass a background check and a gun safety test every year, to belong to a gun club, and to store their gun at the club.