Gun Violence: Facts and Statistics

According to the scientific literature, American children face a substantial risk of exposure to firearm injury and death. Following are relevant gun violence facts. This content was last updated May 2024.

Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens ages 1-19 in the United States. (Source: New England Journal of Medicine)

An average of 13 children and teens ages 1-19 die per day from firearms. (Source: American Academy of Pediatrics)

Guns and Children
  • There are more than 393 million guns in circulation in the United States — approximately 120.5 guns for every 100 people. (Source: Small Arms Survey)
  • 4.6 million children live with unlocked, loaded guns — 1 out of 3 homes with kids have guns. (Source: JAMA Network Open)
  • Playing with a gun is the most common cause of unintentional firearm injury among children. (Source: CDC and JAMA)
  • A 3-year-old is strong enough to pull the trigger of most guns including handguns and military style rifles. (Source: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine and the National Institute of Justice)
  • Between 2014 and 2018, more than 15,000 children (ages 19 and under) died due to firearms, and at least 13,000 sustained unintentional firearm-related injury or death. (Source: Pediatrics)
  • Among younger children (ages 0–12 years) who are killed by a firearm, 85% are killed in their own home. (Source: Pediatrics)
  • In states with increased gun availability, there were higher rates of child deaths due to firearms. (Source: Health Affairs)
  • Most firearms (82%) involved in adolescent school shootings were obtained via theft from relatives. (Source: JAMA Pediatrics)
  • Child survivors and their caregivers have increased economic burden, pain disorder, mental illness, and substance use. (Source: Health Affairs)
  • Children and adolescents who are survivors of nonfatal firearm injuries have a ~5-fold increase risk of inpatient hospitalization ~1.5-fold increased risk of emergency department visit amounting to 7x more in healthcare costs. This represents a yearly potential population health care savings of $62.9 million. (Source: Pediatrics)
  • Emergency Department Visits for Firearm injuries increased beyond pre-pandemic trends disproportionately impacting adolescents, Black children, and Hispanic youth. (Source: Pediatrics)
  • The total cost of firearm related injuries and deaths in the United States for 2020 was $493.2 billion. (Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine)
  • The annual economic burden of youth firearm homicide is estimated to be $78 billion. (Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine)
  • In a nationally representative survey, neighborhood violence exposure among children is associated with unmet health needs and increased acute care utilization. (Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine)
Gun Related Suicide
  • Rates of adolescent firearm suicide have steadily increased from 1999 to 2020 (Source: JAMA Network Open)
  • More than 90 percent of firearm suicide attempts result in death compared to only 23% of drug overdoses. (Source: Annals of Emergency Medicine and the AAP)
  • Firearm suicide makes up over one-third of all youth gun deaths and nearly half of suicides among young people. (Source: Everytown for Gun Safety)
  • A study investigating firearm suicide and gun ownership found that for youth ages 18 and under, 79% used a firearm belonging to a family member. (Source: Prevention Medicine)
  • Youth suicide rates are higher in states with higher rates of gun ownership. (Source: American Journal of Preventative Medicine)
  • States implementing universal background checks and mandatory waiting periods prior to the purchase of a firearm have lower rates of suicides than states without this legislation. (Source: American Journal of Public Health)
  • The vast majority of accidental firearm deaths among children are related to child access to firearms — either self-inflicted or at the hands of another child. (Source: The New York Times)
  • Research shows strong evidence for increased odds of suicide among people who report firearm access and moderate evidence for increased odds of homicide compared to those without firearm access. (Source: Annals of Internal Medicine)
  • College students who are concerned about firearm violence on campus are 42% more likely to report suicidal ideation compared to those unconcerned about firearm violence (Source: BMJ Injury Prevention)

To read more about youth suicide and firearms, click here. 

Gun Violence Legislation

Multiple studies of Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws have demonstrated:

  • Reductions in youth firearm suicide, firearm involved violent crime, and firearm related unintentional injury and death. (Source: RAND Gun Policy in America)
  • In a study of 25 states, CAP Laws were associated with reductions in firearm fatalities in children aged 0-14 years, with the most stringent negligence laws associated with the largest reduction in unintentional firearm fatalities. (Source: JAMA Pediatrics)
  • A reduction in unintentional shooting deaths, homicides, and suicides, including a decrease in suicides among adolescents 14-17 years of age. (Source: JAMA)
  • Strong laws that went beyond reckless endangerment and included a safe storage component were associated with a decrease in hospitalization for firearm-related injuries. (Source: The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery) 
Safe Storage of Guns in the Home
  • Fewer than 1 in 3 US homes with youth and firearms follow American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations to store all household firearms locked and unloaded. (Source: Journal of Urban Health)
  • A 2023 study revealed that more than half of all gun owners store at least one gun unsafely, without any locks or other safe storage measures. Those who do not store firearms locked most frequently note a belief that locks are unnecessary (49.3%) and a fear that locks would prevent quick access in an emergency (44.8%). (Source: JAMA Network Open and The Journal of Community Health)
  • In a nationally representative survey of adults and teens in gun-owning households, more than one-third of adolescents reported being able to access a loaded household firearm in less than 5 minutes; this proportion fell to nearly one-quarter when all firearms were locked. (Source: JAMA Network Open)
  • If 20% of households storing at least one gun unlocked moved in a single year to locking all guns, between 72 and 135 youth firearm fatalities, and between 235 and 323 youth firearm shootings could be prevented. (Source: JAMA Pediatrics)
  • Research has shown that 39% of parents who reported that their children did not know the storage location of household guns and 22% of parents who reported that their children had never handled a household gun were contradicted by their children's reports. (Source: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine)
  • Domestic violence is more likely to turn deadly with a gun in the home. A victim or survivor of intimate partner violence is five times more likely to die when an abusive partner has access to a gun. Read more about the impact of child exposure to domestic violence. (Source: Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics) 
Gun Violence Facts: Assault-Style Weapons
  • These weapons are responsible for a minority of gun deaths in the US, but have become the weapon of choice for the assailant whose intent is chaos and casualties. (Source: Policy Statement of the American Pediatric Surgical Association)
  • In a May 2024 review of mass shootings in the U.S., 149 mass shootings have occurred since 1982, from which approximately 124 semi-automatic handguns, 65 semi-automatic rifles, and weapons with high magazine capacity were recovered. (Source: Mother Jones)
  • Compared to 2003-2007, 2008-2014 had an increase of 48-112% in the prevalence of semiautomatic weapons with high-capacity magazines used in crime guns in three major US cities. (Source: Journal of Urban Health)
  • In 2023, 655 mass shootings in the US caused 715 fatalities and 2,680 injuries. (Source: Gun Violence Archive)
  • Semi-automatic rifles were used in four of the five deadliest mass shootings in the US, being used in the Orlando nightclub massacre, Sandy Hook Elementary massacre and Texas First Baptist Church massacre. (Source: Statista)
  • On March 27, 2023, a 28-year-old former student at the private Covenant School in Nashville, TN killed three adults and three 9-year-old children before being killed by responding police. The three legally purchased weapons used in the attack included a military-style semiautomatic rifle, one handgun and a small 9-millimeter carbine. The assailant fired 152 rounds while on the school grounds, beginning with shots fired through the doors to the school. (Source: The New York Times)
  • On May 24, 2022, a high school student purchased two AR-15 assault rifles days after turning 18 and used them to kill 21 people, including 19 third and fourth grade children and two teachers, in an attack at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. Another 17 people were wounded. (Source: ABC News)
  • At Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CN in 2012, Adam Lanza reportedly fired more than 150 shots in less than five minutes from his assault-style rifle with a high-capacity magazine. (Source: MSNBC)
  • In February 2018, a school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL left 17 people dead and 14 wounded. The teen shooter used an AR-15 semi-automatic style weapon, the same weapon used during the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. (Source: Mother Jones)
  • Nine US states prohibit the purchase and possession of assault weapons, which typically fire rounds with up to four times the muzzle velocity of a standard handgun round. From 2009 to 2022, nine out of the 10 mass shooting incidents with the most casualties involved the use of at least one assault weapon. (Source: Everytown for Gun Safety)
  • A 2021 study determined that the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (FAWB) (1994-2004) resulted in a significant decrease in public mass shootings, number of gun deaths, and number of gun injuries, estimating that 11 public mass shootings were prevented during the decade the ban was in place. The authors estimated that a continuation of the FAWB would have prevented 30 public mass shootings that killed 339 people and injured an additional 1,139 people. (Source: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance)
  • Mass shootings are a uniquely American epidemic that have haunted our communities since the federal assault weapons ban expired in 1994. During the years of the federal assault weapons ban from 1994-2004, mass shooting related homicides were reduced and fatalities from mass shootings were 70% less likely to occur. (Source: Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery)
  • Since 2015, over 19,000 people have been wounded or killed in a mass shooting. In 2022 alone, over 600 people were killed, with over 2,700 wounded. (Source: Everytown for Gun Safety)
  • The piercing velocity of bullets discharged from assault weapons result in a “blast effect” resulting in a phenomenon called cavitation. This is when instead of damage to a single organ, the bullet creates a body cavity that causes irrevocable damage to adjacent organs. (Source: The Washington Post)
Gun Violence Injury Prevention Research
  • Federal legislation passed in 1997 under the “Dickey Amendment” stated that “none of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) may be used to advocate or promote gun control.” The vague nature of this law, and its 2011 extension to the National Institutes of Health, has effectively prevented federal funding for firearms-related research.
  • In 2013, following the Sandy Hook shooting, former President Barack Obama issued an executive order calling for the CDC to “conduct or sponsor research into the causes of gun violence and the ways to prevent it.” (Source: Science.org)
  • After the federal legislation preventing firearm research, there were 25% fewer publications on firearms compared to what would have been expected relative to other causes of death in children. (Source: JAMA)
  • In March 2018, a new spending bill clarified that the CDC can conduct research into gun violence but did not allocate specific funding toward this effort. (Source: JAMA)
  • In 2019, congress appropriated $25 million in funds to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the first time in 20 years. From 2020-2023 congress specifically appropriated $12.5 million to the CDC and $12.5 million to the NIH for firearm research for the first time in more than 20 years. (Source: The New York Times)
  • In 2023, the CDC committed $2,138,459 to fund four research awards under the grant, “Research Grants to Inform Firearm-Related Violence and Injury Prevention Strategies.” This initiative supports research to inform the development or improvement of prevention programs, policies, or practices that have the potential to substantially reduce firearm-related violence, injuries, death, or crime within populations or settings experiencing elevated risk. (Source: CDC)
  • In 2023, there were only 31 active grants on firearm violence in fiscal year 2023. (Source: JAMA Internal Medicine)
Pennsylvania-Specific Gun Violence Facts

Read more about the issue and about public health approaches to gun violence on the Research in Action blog. 

Updated May 2024

This page was reviewed by physician-scientists from the Center for Violence Prevention. If you would like to request a specific citation on gun violence, please use the website’s Contact Us form.

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