FACTS AND STATISTICS

1996 = 242 million firearms in U.S.

2022 = 393 million firearms in U.S.

That’s a 62% increase.

A Feb 2022 study found that 7.5 million US adults became first-time gun owners between January 2019 and April 2021.

This, in turn, exposed 11 million people to firearms in their homes, including 5 million children. [38]

School Shootings

  • Guns used in about 68% of school shootings were taken from the home of the shooter or their relative. [24]

  • The Washington Post reports that more than 278,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School. [26]

  • Exposure to a school shooting leads to declines in health and well-being, worse health-related behaviors and worse education and labor market outcomes. [27]

  • A 2021 JAMA Network study said data found "no association between having an armed officer and deterrence of violence" in mass shootings from 1980 to 2019. A 2021 study by the University at Albany and RAND said school resource officers "do not prevent school shootings or gun-related incidents."

    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776515

  • According to a 2005 Supreme Court decision, police have no constitutional duty to protect people who aren’t in custody from harm. It’s a ruling that was reaffirmed by a federal judge in 2018, responding to a lawsuit filed by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida—the site of a mass shooting that left 17 people dead.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/justices-rule-police-do-not-have-a-constitutional-duty-to-protect.html

  • 1.7 million students attend schools with police but no counselors. 3 million students attend schools with police but no school nurse. 6 million students attend schools with police but no psychologist. 10 million students attend schools with police but no social workers.

    ACLU https://www.aclu-wa.org/story/school-resource-officers-when-cure-worse-disease#_ftn3

Read more: Schools and Guns- Be the Change

Gun Storage and Child Access

  • An estimated 4.6 million American children live in a home where at least one gun is kept loaded and unlocked. [28]

  • 39% of parents wrongly believe children don’t know where a gun is stored. [29]

  • Guns killed more preschoolers than law enforcement officers in the line of duty. In 2019, 86 children under 5 were killed with guns compared with 51 law enforcement officers in the line of duty. [10]

  • In 2020, there were at least 369 unintended shootings by children in the United States. These shootings caused 142 deaths and 242 injuries. [30]

    In fact, firearm deaths occur at a rate more than 5 times higher than drownings.

  • More than one in every four of these shootings are by kids age 5 and younger. One in every four of the victims are also 5 and younger. [34]

  • Unintentional gunshot deaths by children handling a gun jumped 31% during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to a year earlier. [32]

  • The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advises that the safest home for a child is one without guns.

    Even if you don't have guns in your own home, ask about guns and safe storage at the other homes they visit. Just as you'd ask about pets, allergies, supervision and other safety issues before your child visits another home, add one more important question: "Is there an unlocked gun in your house? (AAP)

Read More: Ask- Are there Guns Where My Child Plays

Suicide

  • Nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths in the US are suicides, accounting for an average of 66 deaths a day. [11]

  • Access to a firearm triples one’s risk of death by suicide. This elevated risk applies not only to the gun owner but to everyone in the household. [12]

  • For children and teens, suicide rates are four times higher for kids who live in homes with guns. [13]

  • In the past decade, 40% of the suicides committed by kids and teens involved guns. [14]

  • 9 out of 10 of these suicides were with guns that the victims accessed at their own homes or from a relative's home. [15]

  • Over the past decade, the firearm suicide rate among children and teens has increased by 59%. [16]

  • Most people who attempt suicide do not die—unless they use a gun. Across all suicide attempts not involving a firearm, 4% result in death. But for gun suicide, those statistics are flipped: Approximately 90% of gun suicide attempts end in death. [17]

  • First-time gun owners are at risk for suicide with men 8 times as likely to kill themselves by gunshot compared to non-owners. Women were 35 times as likely. [18]

  • The suicide rate rose 41% in the United States from 1999 to 2016, and the people at the highest risk have a few factors in common. Men had higher suicide rates. Areas with the highest risk were in Western states, and in rural areas. Or, in a city, if there was a gun shop in the neighborhood.

    https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2749451?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=090619

Read more: What is safe storage?

Gun Violence and Women

  • The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicides against women by 500%. [19]

  • From 2006 to 2015, 36% of murders of young women between the ages of 15 and 29 were committed by an intimate partner or family member, and 54% of those murders were committed with a gun. [20]

  • From 2006 to 2015, out of the more than 1,550 young women killed with a gun in domestic violence situations, 65% were murdered by a dating partner. [21]

  • Every MONTH, an average of 57 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner. [22]

  • 4.5 million women have reported being threatened with a gun by an intimate partner. [23]

Read More: Gun in the Home Doesn't Make Women Safer

Thanks to Project Unloaded for gathering these facts