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In an average year, gun violence in America kills nearly 40,000 people, injures more than twice as many, and costs our nation $280 billion. This staggering figure is higher than the entire US Department of Veterans Affairs' annual budget. Without a doubt, the human cost of gun violence-the people who are taken from us and the survivors whose lives are forever altered-is the most devastating. But examining the serious economic consequences of gun violence is paramount to understanding just how extensive and expensive this crisis is. And during these times of unprecedented economic uncertainty and stretched-thin health care resources from the coronavirus pandemic, these vast funds could be directed elsewhere if many of these shooting tragedies were prevented from occurring in the first place.

This $280 billion problem represents the lifetime costs associated with gun violence, including three types of costs: immediate costs starting at the time of an incident; subsequent costs such as treatment, long-term physical and mental health care, forgone earnings, criminal justice costs; and cost estimates of quality-of-life lost over a victim's lifespan.
As survivors, families, communities, employers, and taxpayers, we all pay for the enormous costs associated with this violence, whether we own a gun or not.
On an average day:

American taxpayers pay a daily average of $34.8 million for medical care, first responders, ambulances, police, and criminal justice services related to gun violence.

Families directly affected by gun violence everyday face $4.7 million in out-of-pocket costs for medical bills and mental health support, and $140.3 million in losses from work missed due to injury or death.

Society loses an estimated $586.8 million per day in intangible costs from the pain and suffering of gun violence victims and their families.

Employers every day lose $1.4 million in productivity, revenue, and costs required to recruit and train replacements for victims of gun violence.

The large variation in rates of gun deaths and injuries in the 50 states and Washington, DC, translates into substantial differences in the economic burden from this violence. Compiling this information is vital so that policymakers and constituents can understand how resources are currently being spent and to provide direction for a different tomorrow. The average cost for overall gun violence in the United States is $860 for every person. However, in states with stronger gun laws, the economic toll of gun violence is less than half this amount, whereas in states where gun laws are weaker and gun injuries and fatalities are higher, gun violence costs residents double or more this amount per person.

In the week before Thanksgiving 2020 there were 20 shooting incidents in Dallas, Texas. When the week was over, a combination of road rage, shootouts, and drive-bys resulted in 12 people being killed and 19 injured, including a grandfather and his four-year-old granddaughter. This violence left in its wake a $10.1 million price tag for taxpayers and the loss of $101.1 million for families directly involved. Today we are all paying an enormous economic cost, as well as an unmeasurable human cost of trauma and loss, for our failure to prevent gun violence.

This report doesn't try to put a price on human lives. Rather, it details the depth and breadth of America's gun violence crisis in an effort to show why we must work to solve it now. Quantifying what we all spend in the aftermath of a shooting-whether the shooting was unintentional, an assault, a police-involved shooting, or an act of suicide-helps us understand the price we pay for this violence.

This report is divided into four sections based on broad cost categories: costs borne by the government and paid for with taxpayer dollars, out-of-pocket costs paid by families and employers, lost income, and an estimate for the intangible lost quality-of-life costs of gun violence to account for pain and suffering, a commonly accepted economic principle used, for example, in jury awards. All of these economic costs ultimately pale in comparison to the pain of losing a loved one. Our hope is that by combining strong data with survivors' testimonies, we present a holistic picture of America's gun violence epidemic and the sense of urgency to solve it.

Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund worked with the leading health economist researching the cost of gun violence, Ted R. Miller, and researchers at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), to calculate the economic impact of gun violence. Data featured in this report is from the federal Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other studies as detailed in the Methodological Note. This report uses an Injury Cost Model developed by PIRE that forms the backbone of the CDC's work on costing injuries from a broad array of causes, including gun violence.

The Breakdown: $280 billion in Gun Violence Costs

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was known to say that taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. Taxation buys our children's education, economic security when we are older, garbage pickup, park maintenance, food and medicine safety regulation, public safety, and much more. These government services contribute to the good of our society.

What is clear from this report's analysis is that while not every household has a gun, and while not all communities experience high levels of gun violence,we all bear the economic burden of injuries and deaths caused by firearms. Roughly $12.7 billion in tax money per year pays for our country's gun violence epidemic. Instead of K-12 education funding, social services, economic redevelopment grants, and so many other vital public goods from which we all benefit, we are spending precious funding on an epidemic that brings nothing of benefit and plenty of heartbreak and broken lives. And this is happening at a time when the National Conference of State Legislatures has catalogued cuts that states are having to make in order to close budget shortfalls due to COVID-19. While costs vary depending on the circumstances of the incident, each gun fatality costs taxpayers an average of $270,399 for the initial and long-term repercussions of that incident, and each nonfatal injury costs $52,585.

Government costs for gun violence-paid for by taxpayers-fall into two broad categories: medical costs and police and criminal justice costs, as detailed below. The annual medical cost of gun violence is paid partly by the government (52 percent) and partly by families and private individuals (48 percent), with the portion of medical costs borne by taxpayers of $2.0 billion. The second group of taxpayer costs, for police and criminal justice, totals $10.7 billion per year. For gun violence survivors, these services provide a lifeline many wished they never needed.

Taxpayer Costs

Medical Costs

Medical and long-term disability costs of gun violence cost taxpayers $2.0 billion annually. This includes:

Medical care including Medicaid

Mental health care

Ambulance and patient transport

Taxpayer Costs

Police & Criminal Justice Costs

Police and criminal justice costs of gun violence cost taxpayers $10.7 billion annually . This includes:

Police response and investigation

Court Administration

Public prosecutors and defenders

Jail and prison incarceration

Jim Burch, President of the National Police Foundation, shares the economic toll and trauma that law enforcement experience.

Read Jim's Story

Across the country, gun violence places an enormous strain on our first responders and criminal justice systems. Jim Burch served in the Department of Justice for more than 20 years, overseeing initiatives to support state and local law enforcement. Through that work, Burch learned of the human and economic toll gun violence takes on police departments at every stage of an investigation.

Investigating gun violence effectively often requires resources and tools: gunshot detection, ballistics imaging, forensic examination, and the court system. According to Burch, "Gun crime is probably one of the more costly types of criminal activity and violence that is dealt with by our criminal justice system."

Then there is the trauma that police officers and first responders experience on the job. Gun violence affects police officer wellness and likely retention rates because "people can't or just don't want to be exposed to that level of repeated pain and trauma," Burch explained. That trauma can also make it harder for officers to do their jobs. "If you have a police officer who has seen this so much that they're numb to the violence, how effective can they be in understanding the community's concerns and impatience around gun violence? We become complacent over time with levels of gun violence."

"It's truly a problem that is compounding in nature," Burch said. "If you don't have the economic engine and the investment being made in those communities, and yet they are disproportionately affected by this type of extraordinarily costly problem, there is this vicious cycle of economic disruption."

Source: Jim Burch in discussion with Kaelyn Forde, Everytown for Gun Safety, April 7, 2020.

Costs Paid by Families and Employers

In addition to the burden on taxpayers, individuals, families, and employers bear enormous costs for gun-related violence in America, including $1.7 billion annually in out-of-pocket medical and mental health care costs. Families also experience the loss of $51.2 billion from work loss for victims and perpetrators. Employers pay $528.7 million per year to cover the costs of employee absence due to gun violence.

The average hospital stay for a nonfatal gun injury costs $67,245-as much as the US median household income for an entire year. It isn't hard to see how medical bills from gunshot injuries quickly add up and financially devastate families. The ongoing, complex nature of the medical and mental health care that some gun violence survivors require means that those costs can last years, decades, or a lifetime.

Across the country, gun violence victim and perpetrator work loss accounts for $51.2 billion per year. Families feel the loss of a missing monthly paycheck and benefits-plus the burden of caring for the injured-even more acutely when the injured person or lost family member was supporting children or a main breadwinner. While perhaps not intuitive, it is important to consider both victims' and perpetrators' economic losses to understand the full scope of gun violence on our society and what we lose when guns shatter lives.

Carolyn Tuft relies on Medicare after being wounded and losing her daughter to gun violence in 2007.

Read Carolyn's Story

Like many gun violence survivors, Carolyn Tuft of Salt Lake City, Utah, relies on Medicare and Supplemental Security Income to access the continuing care and support she needs after being shot three times. Before the shooting, Tuft was an avid cyclist, hiker, and runner who supported her family of four kids with $2,800 per month from a successful cleaning business. "Within minutes, everything changed," Tuft said.

A gunman opened fire on Tuft and her 15-year-old daughter, Kirsten Hinckley, while they were shopping for Valentine's Day cards at the Trolley Square Mall on February 12, 2007. In an instant, Tuft lost Kirsten, the baby of the family who was "the glue-bubbly, kind, and funny," she said. "It damaged us all in so many ways because it was like that light was put out."

Tuft was left with shotgun pellets throughout her body, which are now causing lead poisoning. Her injuries are life altering and a chronic source of pain. Thirteen years later, Tuft estimates her medical costs are well into the millions. "When I finally came home from the hospital, it was three kids and a very sick mom," she said.

Tuft, unable to return to the physically demanding work of cleaning houses, struggled financially. "When I got shot, I was no longer able to return to work. And when you can't work, you can't pay bills, you can't pay the mortgage-there's that trickle-down effect," she explained. "Everything was gone, and it wasn't a slow trickle. It was a fast one."

Ultimately, she said, "there was just no money coming in . . . I no longer had a house for us all to live in, and so it tore our family apart." For her kids, Tuft said, "it impacted everyone in such a huge way, and violently."

"I now live below the poverty line on less than $500 a month," she said. "Gun violence throws people into poverty when they're as seriously injured as I was. People never imagine they can end up like that when they are hard working and have successful jobs."

The former small-business owner and independent single mom says she wishes she didn't need to rely on the government for help, but there is simply no other way.

Source: Carolyn Tuft in discussion with Kaelyn Forde, Everytown for Gun Safety, March 17, 2020.

Finally, when survivors' injuries leave them unable to work, the economy as a whole suffers. In addition to the burden of lost wages on survivors' families, gun violence costs employers $528.7 million per year. This encompasses the direct costs to productivity such as lost revenue due to unfilled jobs, the value of the time supervisors spend adjusting schedules to cover for lost work, and the cost burden of recruiting and training replacements when necessary.

Private Payer Costs

Medical Costs

Immediate medical treatment

Follow-up medical care, long-term rehabilitation, prescriptions, etc.

Mental health care services for victims and immediate family members

Coroner services, as applicable

Private Payer Losses

Work-Loss Costs

Forgone earnings or work due to victim injury or death and from perpetrator incarceration

Wage equivalent for unpaid household and caregiver work for victims

Employer Costs

Lost Revenue and Productivity

Lost productivity for victims' employers

Lost revenue in case of unfilled absence

Recruiting and training replacement workers

DeAndra Yates-Dycus's son "Dre" was shot and survived, his medical bills costing more than $10 million over six years.

Read DeAndra's Story

DeAndra Yates-Dycus's 13-year-old son, DeAndre "Dre" Knox, was shot in the head by a stray bullet at a birthday party in Indianapolis on February 1, 2014. The shooting left Dre unable to walk or talk and his family struggling to understand what the rest of his life would hold. "When someone survives and they are in a critical state like my son, it's kind of like, What's today gonna bring? " Yates-Dycus said. "Dre survived and that means the world to me, but the everyday battles can take an emotional toll if you allow them to."

In the six years since the shooting, Dre has spent a great deal of time in hospitals. He has epilepsy, secondary to the traumatic brain injury he suffered from the shooting, his mother said, and his quadriplegia makes him susceptible to bedsores and breathing issues. At one point, he was treated at a rehabilitation center 280 miles away from where his family lives, and Yates-Dycus scrambled to pay for gas, food, tolls, and a hotel nearby. After undergoing four surgeries, Dre's medical bills topped a million dollars in the first six months following his injury alone and more than $10 million over the past six years, his mother estimates. The family relies on Medicaid to pay for Dre's care.

Gun violence also cost Yates-Dycus her job as a clinical instructor at a local college. She then went to work for herself in an effort to balance taking care of Dre and supporting both him and her other child.

But the particular nature of Dre's medical needs made at-home care too costly for the family to afford while Yates-Dycus works, so she made the tough decision to send Dre to a specialized 24-hour-care facility, which she says costs more than $3,000 per day. They've also raised money from friends, family, and Dre's school to equip their home to be wheelchair-accessible and get a van that allows them to travel with Dre.

"People don't understand what it means to survive gun violence," Yates-Dycus said. "People don't understand what is attached to surviving, which is a high economic cost."

Source: DeAndra Yates-Dycus in discussion with Kaelyn Forde, Everytown for Gun Safety, March 17, 2020.

The damage caused by gun violence, of course, is not limited to the individual who was shot. When a person's life is cut short or altered in this way, the trajectory of their family's life changes forever as well. And the high cost that society bears extends far beyond medical bills.

In America, gun violence costs an estimated $214.2 billion annually in lost quality-of-life. These are intangible costs that quantify-based on jury awards and victim settlements-the pain, suffering, and lost overall well-being that a person and their family experience due to gun death and injury. Quality-of-life lost represents the present value of what was irreparably damaged when a victim's life was cut short or a survivor was permanently disabled by gun violence, with a higher amount for younger victims with years of life ahead of them.

Quality-of-Life Costs

Pain and Suffering

Gun violence costs an estimated $214.2 billion annually in lost quality-of-life. This includes:

Estimate of the intangible loss of victims and survivors due to either a life cut short or a person permanently disabled by gun violence.

While these estimates are enormous, they do not include the indirect impact that gun violence has on many other people in our country, which would undeniably put the price even higher. While this report's quality-of-life lost estimate includes individuals who were shot and their immediate family, it does not include children who lost their parents, siblings, or extended family members, or those who witnessed gun violence and were marked by the trauma of it. The collective trauma we all feel when a mass shooting, homicide, or suicide occurs certainly isn't free.

The pain and suffering caused by a single gun can ripple through an entire family, as is the case with gun suicides, which account for nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths and half of the cost of gun violence in America. Suicides have lower overall economic costs associated with them-largely because less is spent on criminal justice and incarceration costs-but the intangible cost in pain and suffering is a crushing weight to bear.

McKay Moore Sohlberg's husband died by suicide, putting her in financial uncertainty.

Read McKay's Story

McKay Moore Sohlberg's husband, Olof Erick Sohlberg, ended his life with a gun on April 25, 2011, at their Oregon home. A successful urologist, Olof had lunch with his daughter, ran some errands, texted his wife about dinner, and then purchased a gun. Three hours later, he took his own life. Because he used a firearm, Olof's suicide was lethal. Across all suicide attempts not involving a firearm, 4 percent result in death. But approximately of gun suicide attempts end in death.

In an instant, Sohlberg lost the only man she ever loved, whom she had known since her teens, as well as the father of her girls. She was also thrown into financial uncertainty, worried about how the family would afford to stay in their home and pay for the kids' schooling. "He was the primary wage earner, so that was very scary," Sohlberg said. "I had two children in private colleges and a senior in high school."

Sohlberg's husband had managed the couple's finances, so it was now up to her to figure things out. She said she was more fortunate than most; Olof had retirement savings and a life insurance policy that could help his family in the short term. Long-term, the economic impact of his suicide continues. "It certainly changed the long-term trajectory of what we had both planned, mostly in terms of retirement," she said. "I'm working longer than I would have, and a lot of that is in order to maintain health care, which is so expensive."

There was also the cost to Olof's surgery practice, which had to scramble to find someone who could take care of the patients he had treated for years.

Sohlberg spent years not talking about her husband's death because of the stigma around suicide. But that silence ultimately became too costly. "With the financial and emotional costs I have, I just can't be silent anymore. My kids have rallied me, saying, 'We need to do something. You need to help be our voices.'"

The trauma of Solhberg's husband's death extended far beyond her immediate family. "Even just thinking about the health care costs from Olof's suicide-every single family member who sought mental health care, and our friends-I can think of 20 people, just counting quickly, who sought mental health services after this," she said.

Source: McKay Moore Sohlberg in discussion with Kaelyn Forde, Everytown for Gun Safety, March 18, 2020.

Not surprisingly, states with high levels of gun violence face higher associated costs, whereas states with lower levels of gun violence and strong common sense gun laws face a lower financial burden. Louisiana has been challenged by high levels of gun violence for a long time, with an average of 967 gun deaths per year over the past five years and a rate of gun homicide that has increased 11 percent over the past decade. At an average price tag of $1,793 per person each year, Louisiana has the highest per person cost of gun violence in the United States, which translates into a very high burden for the state.

Massachusetts, on the other hand, is able to allocate far more taxpayer dollars to productive investments for its residents. Massachusetts has the lowest rate of gun deaths in the United States, with the rate of gun homicides having gone down 12 percent over the past decade. At an average cost of $261 per person each year, Massachusetts has the lowest per person outlay from gun violence in the United States.

The Economic Cost of Gun Violence by State

See data on the economic cost in your state on EveryStat.

In states with stronger gun laws, such as Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, the human and economic toll of gun violence, with a per person cost of less than $400 annually, results in more government funds to invest in education, health care, workforce development, and other valuable services and programs that can address underlying causes of gun violence. In states where gun laws are weaker and gun fatalities are higher, including Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri, the per person cost of gun violence is four times higher, at more than $1,600 per resident.

The graphic below illustrates these wide differences by comparing two states with similar population sizes but vastly different costs resulting from gun violence. Missouri, with a population of 6.1 million residents, spent $9.8 billion on gun violence as compared to Washington State, with a slightly larger population (7.4 million residents) but nearly half the cost-$5.3 billion. Neither amount is cause for celebration. But Missouri is a state with some of the weakest gun laws in the country, including no law requiring background checks on unlicensed gun sales and a law allowing residents to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public with no permit or safety training required. Washington, on the other hand, requires background checks on all gun sales, has an Extreme Risk law that allows loved ones or law enforcement to petition a court to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing firearms, and requires that all gun owners store their firearms securely.

Similar Population Sizes, Vastly Different Costs

Washington State

Population: 7,405,743
Cost of gun violence per person: $716

Missouri

Population: 6,113,532
Cost of gun violence per person: $1,606
There are so many things our country needs. If we didn't have to be supporting the people whose lives have been ripped apart from somebody irresponsibly buying a gun and using it, it would make a huge difference. Everybody's taxes are paying for the damage.
-Carolyn Tuft, gun violence survivor

With nearly 40,000 lives lost and almost 85,000 more injured each year, the human cost of gun violence in America is staggering. Families, friends, and entire communities suffer the long-term and irreparable impacts of these tragedies-physically, emotionally, and financially.

While survivor stories carry immense power in driving change, quantifying the financial burden of gun violence offers another important strategy and data point for doing so. This rigorous study finds that gun violence costs America an estimated $280 billion annually, toward which taxpayers pay an average of $12.7 billion, and survivors and their loved ones often pay additional millions over their lifetimes-not to mention the immense cost of quality-of-life lost. Further, some states and communities-many of which already face heightened gun violence and weaker gun safety laws-carry more of this cost than others, worsening disparities and challenges faced, and lessening resources available to prevent this cycle to begin with.

This report is part of Everytown's efforts to paint a more complete picture of the staggering cost of gun violence in America. Calculating the economic cost of gun violence is a critical addition to this narrative because it puts a price on our collective inaction and equips policymakers, advocates, local leaders, and all Americans with additional information that can help advance action to prevent shootings and keep our families safe.
Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund would like to gratefully acknowledge the work of Ted R. Miller, Bina Ali, David I Swedler, and Bruce A Lawrence of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation for their work to calculate the cost of gun violence, Kaelyn Forde for report drafting and survivor interviews, and Jim Burch, McKay Moore Sohlberg, Carolyn Tuft, and DeAndra Yates-Dycus for their willingness to share their stories.
Everytown Research & Policy is a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence. Everytown Research & Policy works to do so by conducting methodologically rigorous research, supporting evidence-based policies, and communicating this knowledge to the American public.

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The Economic Cost of Gun Violence | Everytown Research & Policy

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In an average year, gun violence in America kills nearly 40,000 people, injures more than twice as many, and costs our nation $280 billion. This staggering figure is higher than the entire US Department of Veterans Affairs' annual budget.

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Link to the article is here.

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Most city leaders, eager to rejuvenate downtown economies, have lifted coronavirus restrictions. But rising violent crime has kept both residents and tourists at home.

A police officer at the scene of a shooting in Chicago where a 7-year-old girl was killed in April. "We owe it to all of our residents, in every neighborhood, to bring peace and vibrancy back," Mayor Lori Lightfoot said. Credit... Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times, via Associated Press

CHICAGO - Mayors of American cities have yearned for the moment they could usher in a return to normalcy, casting away coronavirus restrictions on bars, restaurants, parties and public gatherings.

Yet now, even with reopenings underway across the United States as the pandemic recedes, city leaders must contend with another crisis: a crime wave with no signs of ending.

They are cheerleading the return of office workers to downtowns and encouraging tourists to visit, eager to rejuvenate the economy and build public confidence. But they are also frantically trying to quell a surge of homicides, assaults and carjackings that began during the pandemic and has cast a chill over the recovery.

In Austin, Texas, for example, 14 people were injured early Saturday morning in a mass shooting as revelers jammed a popular downtown nightlife district.

Some city officials have touted progressive strategies focused on community policing in neighborhoods where trust between police officers and residents has frayed. Others have deployed more traditional tactics like increasing surveillance cameras in troubled areas and enforcing curfews in city parks to clear out crowds, as the police did in Washington Square Park in Manhattan in recent days.

In Chicago, which fully reopened on Friday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot made clear that her focus was on reducing violence over the summer, and that her administration would focus resources on 15 high-crime pockets of the city as part of that effort.

"We owe it to all of our residents, in every neighborhood, to bring peace and vibrancy back," Ms. Lightfoot said.

Image

Ms. Lightfoot announced a plan targeting high-crime areas of the city that she said would help address violence. Credit... Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times, via Associated Press

Superintendent David Brown, the head of the Chicago Police Department, announced this month what he called a "transformative moment" for the department, a plan to add more officers in the Civil Rights Unit, which is specially trained to work with marginalized residents, including those who are homeless. The plan would also expand initiatives for youth in arts and sports.

Other cities, like Miami, are nearly free of pandemic restrictions and booming with tourists. This month, the top prosecutor in Miami-Dade County and local police leaders turned to the issue of public safety, announcing Operation Summer Heat, an initiative to combat a wave of shootings. Homicides in Miami are 30 percent higher this year than the same period in 2020, according to data from the medical examiner's office.

The efforts include additional streetlights and surveillance cameras, prosecutors assigned to "hot spot" areas and a code enforcement crackdown on illegal party venues.

"This is something we have never seen before," Alfredo Ramirez III, the director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, said of the recent surge in violence. "Now they are going to see something they've never seen before: They're going to see the law enforcement community united, working as one."

Business owners who are eager to see tourism return have been made especially anxious by the persistent violence.

Pete Berghoff, whose family has owned the historic Berghoff restaurant in Chicago's Loop since 1898, is planning to reopen its doors in July. But he is worried about the unruly gatherings of younger people downtown that have turned violent.

"I'm very concerned that as people return to work, there are going to be confrontations," he said. "We're excited to reopen. But we need to make sure that everybody downtown feels safe."

Homicide rates in large cities were up more than 30 percent on average last year, and up another 24 percent for the beginning of this year, according to criminologists.

Gil Monrose, a pastor at Mt. Zion Church of God 7th Day in Brooklyn, said that before the virus struck New York, residents were increasingly engaged with his anti-violence organization. Members were beginning to see progress in gun crime tallies, he said.

Then came the pandemic.

"It's like you start over again, but with all of the complexities of this moment," he said. "To the point where I don't know how we got to where we are now."

The issue of gun violence catapulted to the front of the hotly contested New York mayor's race after a rare shooting in Times Square in May that injured three bystanders, including a 4-year-old girl. At a recent debate, several candidates unveiled broad proposals for removing guns from the city's streets, while some more moderate challengers doubled down on a more robust police response, including restarting plainclothes anti-crime units.

In Milwaukee, where homicides hit a record high in 2020, residents of neighborhoods burdened by gunfire are ready to leave. Asia Flanagan, 40, said that after a year of what has felt like never-ending tragedy on Milwaukee's North Side, she intended to move out with her infant son.

"By October we'll be out of here," she said, sitting outside her apartment earlier this month with her son Josiah, who wore a gray Captain America onesie and fiddled with the key fob to the family minivan. "That's my birthday present to myself. I have a son to raise."

Arnitta Holliman directs Milwaukee's Office of Violence Prevention, a unit within the public health department that was hailed for its role in the steep decline in homicides from 2016 to 2019. She attributed the current upswing in part because of growing access to weapons - Wisconsin shattered its previous record for gun sales last year - and the destabilizing effect of the pandemic.

"There are a myriad of issues that play into why we see higher levels of violence - poverty, food insecurity and other related issues," she said, "and, of course, Covid."

A violence prevention and intervention strategy announced by Ms. Holliman's department includes an effort to connect young people with more than 80 programs and activities to keep them out of trouble.

Bouchards, a boutique fashion retailer, fully opened its two Milwaukee locations about a month ago, but the owner, Rami Murrar, said the spike in violence seemed to be keeping some people away.

"Definitely it's affecting my business, in a negative way," Mr. Murrar, 40, said. "In the inner city in general we see more people walking around with guns, whether it's concealed carry or whatnot. People are going to shop less because they're scared to go out."

Small and midsize cities have also seen an alarming spike in shootings.

Last month, the City Council in Jackson, Miss., gathered in a church for a special meeting over the gun violence crisis in a city of roughly 160,000 people. There were 130 homicides last year, according to law enforcement statistics, far surpassing the previous record of 92 killings in 1995.

With homicides up by about 70 percent in the first three months of this year, the outrage and frustration continues to grow.

"If we don't save these children," Kenneth I. Stokes, a city councilman, said during the meeting, "we're going to keep having these meetings, keep going to the funerals - and wondering why."

Lubbock, Texas, population 259,000, saw homicides double from 2019 to 2020 - so far this year, 11 homicides have been recorded, according to police data. Some residents said that they felt an increased police presence to combat crime and that it brought them comfort.

In the northern part of the city last week, Margarita Garza, 54, sat in her front yard as her grandchildren played around her.

She has been raising them while her son is incarcerated for drug-related crimes, she said, adding that it is the drug trade in Lubbock that has led to more violence and gang activity in the area. "Everybody wants their drug money," she said. "Some people get fronted some and they don't pay, so they either get shot or killed."

In Atlanta, the rise in crime has become a driving issue in the mayoral election, causing some residents and businesses to lose confidence in the city's leadership.

Throughout the first 18 weeks of the year, police statistics show that homicides rose 57 percent, rapes 55 percent, aggravated assaults 36 percent and auto thefts 31 percent compared with the same period last year.

"I see signs people are getting a little weary," said Felicia A. Moore, who is the president of the City Council and running for mayor. "We do have people who have left the city, who are threatening to leave the city."

In the Buckhead section of Atlanta, which has for generations been a hub of wealth in the city, the rise in crime in homicides and robberies has stoked a backlash severe enough to push some residents to want to secede and form a city of their own.

"We're under siege with all of this," said Bill White, the chairman and chief executive of the Buckhead Exploratory Committee, the group that has been driving the secession effort. "People tell me, 'It feels like a war zone.' They don't feel safe going to pump gas in the middle of the day."

Still, even as frustration has mounted, there was also a sense that residents did not want to return to the aggressive measures that officials had resorted to in the past, which had a long tail of consequences and a disproportionate impact on African Americans.

Tough-on-crime stances, once widely popular with voters, have had diminished support as the country has confronted disparities in the criminal justice system. Even without the consequences, criminal justice experts have questioned their effectiveness.

"I don't think it's going to be the same old story this time," said Tom Clark, a political science professor and a director of the Politics of Policing Lab at Emory University. "Americans today understand being tough on crimes does more than just catch some more criminals.

"We understand it leads to the deaths of innocent civilians, it leads to disproportionate policing of some communities over others, we understand it leads to long-term negative consequences for the relationship between police and community."

Dan Simmons contributed reporting from Milwaukee, Troy Closson from New York, and Lucinda Holt from Lubbock, Texas.

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As Battle Against Virus Wanes, Mayors Confront a New Challenge: Crime

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Most city leaders, eager to rejuvenate downtown economies, have lifted coronavirus restrictions. But rising violent crime has kept both residents and tourists at home. CHICAGO - Mayors of American cities have yearned for the moment they could usher in a return to normalcy, casting away coronavirus restrictions on bars, restaurants, parties and public gatherings.

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Link to the article is here.

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HOUSTON - Homicide rates are rising once again across the country after last year's spike, and Houston is faring worse than the largest U.S. cities.

Four homicides in Houston in the last 24-hours have brought the total this year to 199, a 35% increase over 2020.

Compare that to only a 5% increase in homicides so far over last year in Chicago, a 17% increase in New York and a 23% increase in Los Angeles.

The total number of homicides is also higher in Houston than in Los Angeles, a city with nearly twice the population. It's also higher than New York City, a city of more than eight million people.

"It requires a city-wide, holistic, comprehensive approach," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said on Wednesday in City Council when asked about the crime wave.

"You cannot piecemeal that. Now certainly, HPD is in the best position to move its resources around. But they are limited resources," he added.

The latest slaying in Houston happened at an apartment complex along the 7000 block of Bellfort Street in southeast Houston. One man died from a gunshot wound.

Also on Wednesday, a man was found dead in northeast Houston, another downtown, and a fourth in southwest Houston. HPD said he was shot to death while pumping gas.

"It's not any one person's responsibility," the mayor said in an interview. "It's a community responsibility. It's not even the responsibility of just law enforcement, it's all of us playing a part."

Pandemic-related delays in courthouses have contributed to the rise in crime, he said, adding that the backlog in Harris County is up to 100,000.

"I mean think about that, 100,000 cases backlog, waiting to go through the criminal justice system," said the mayor. "There are a number of people who are out on our streets who quite frankly shouldn't be, OK?"

He also pointed to increases in gang-related activity, domestic violence and road rage shootings, and added that "there are too many guns on the streets."

"I'm optimistic, I'm confident, that by everybody working together, we will get our arms around this situation and the crime will come down," he concluded.

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Houston homicides up 35%, which is much higher than Chicago, LA or NY

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HOUSTON - Homicide rates are rising once again across the country after last year's spike, and Houston is faring worse than the largest U.S. cities. Four homicides in Houston in the last 24-hours have brought the total this year to 199, a 35% increase over 2020.

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It is impacting how there is a higher rate in Houston than in the cities with the most population in the USA. And the law that lets Texas free Gun control doesn't help at all the situation since, in 2018, 64% of all Texas suicides were by firearm, and these can get even worse since more people have guns on their houses.

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How will the law intertwine with other factors further encourage

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Mass shootings jumped nearly 50% in 2020 due to the pandemic.

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How will the law intertwine with other factors to encourage the rising of homicides in Houston?

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Will the law increase the crime rate in the city, and who is more likely to be affected by said crime

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As mentioned in the article, there were two approaches that communities tried to enact, one being enforcing gun restriction, and the second being increasing police enforcement. Which of these methods might be the most effective way of addressing the heightened crime due to reopenings?

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What stood out to me were the plans that each city had to combat crime. The majority of city plans included increasing the number of officers or city surveillance. On the other hand,  other cities, like Milwaukee, are trying to increase youth participation in programs to keep them away from violence. However, what other types of programs or solutions, beyond increasing police power, could  be used to deter other populations prone to gun violence besides teens?

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How will school districts react to the new law? Will they take more initiatives by having active-shooter drills, enforcing more security, etc. ? Is it the responsibility of the school, school district, or T.E.A. to react to the new legislative? - Bella

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What role has the pandemic played in this increase in shootings? What are the demographics of the majority of people being killed? Whose responsibility is it to ensure that gun violence decreases?

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I appreciate how this article chose to focus on the financial aspect of gun violence. Of course, the social effects of allowing permitless carry are devastating, and I'm sure crime rates will increase even more due to this bill, but we often don't consider the destructive economic consequences from immediate expenses, treatment, criminal justice costs, and more. The effects are even more detrimental in our time of strained healthcare systems and economic instability from COVID-19.

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This article made me realize from a financial perspective how  a single incident with a gun could have such an expensive and life altering implication. Additionally, I had no idea it had such an impact on the economy, as suggested by the article when they say, "Employers every day lose $1.4 million in productivity, revenue, and costs required to recruit and train replacements for victims of gun violence".

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How will the Texas’ permitless carry law positively affect its citizens?

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Will the criminal justice sentencing have to be reformed? Are the sentences going to be reduced since it's not illegal to carry a firearm without a license? Will other sentences be heightened? (Ex. B&E

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What ways can we do to inform/educate the public of the new gun law?

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How can we give back to communities affected by gun violence through policy and/or social action?

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How will the Texas Government try to lower the crime rate and road rage after the freedom of Covid?

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For me, this law wouldn't be beneficial since it only causes more gun violence and pretty much any illegal guns can be smuggled to the state.

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How will this new legislation affect the federal laws that are already in place for gun holding?

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How can people feel safe, or what will the Texas government do to improve safety while allowing this new legislation come to pass?

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How will gun violence and the new Texas legislation affect safety of our schools?