Anyone can be affected by gun violence, but it often disproportionately impacts people of colour, men and boys in deprived communities, and other marginalized groups. Domestic violence involving firearms also puts women at heightened risk of death or life-changing injuries.

Sometimes, the mere presence of firearms can make people feel threatened and fearful for their lives. They may be too afraid to attend schools or health facilities. Community-wide gun violence may prevent services from fully functioning, which can harm access to education or healthcare.

The vast majority of gun violence occurs outside of armed conflict settings. A significant proportion – in some states more than half – of firearm deaths are caused by suicide and accidents.

Following are chapter-by-chapter highlights and short summaries of conclusions and recommendations of the report’s authors. More information and supporting citations can be found within the chapters themselves.

The economic cost of gun violence across the US in 2022

This infographic explores the rapidly increasing health and economic costs of gun violence across the United States.An average of 118 people a day died from a gun-related incident in 2023. For every person who dies by firearm, more than two survive, often with significant and expensive mental and physical injuries.

In June 2024, US Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, MD, issued a Surgeon General’s Advisory on Firearm Violence, the first publication from the Office of the Surgeon General dedicated to the health issue.

Nirmita Panchal
Published: Feb 22, 2024

Firearm injuries and deaths in the United States have increased in recent years and adversely affect many children and adolescents. Firearms now kill more children and adolescents than any other cause, surpassing motor vehicle crashes. Additionally, the U.S. has by far the highest rate of child and teen firearm mortality compared to peer countries. Beyond deaths, there are many more youth who survive gunshot wounds or are otherwise exposed to gun violence. These exposures can lead to negative behavioral health outcomes among youth and their family members. This brief explores the impacts of gun violence on children and adolescents (ages 17 and below)

We know that these deaths are a predictable outcome of our country’s lack of political will to make a change and an underinvestment in prevention approaches that work. Through a public health approach that focuses on drawing from evidence and addressing the factors that increase or decrease the risk of gun violence, particularly in communities that are disproportionately impacted, we can save lives.

The report, Gun Violence in the United States 2022: Examining the Burden Among Children and Teens, assessed the latest finalized data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, highlighting that 48,204 people, the second highest on record, died from gunshots in the U.S. in 2022, including 27,032 suicides, an all-time high for the country.

The annual report’s major focus this year is on gun deaths among children ages 1 to 17. In the U.S., gun death rates in this age group have increased by 106 percent since 2013 and have been the leading cause of death among this group since 2020.

The report also illuminates the dispro

Murthy’s 32-page advisory is the first federal government report to fully acknowledge the health impacts of gun violence on Americans, whether they are direct victims, families and friends of victims, or live in communities that face ongoing street violence or have experienced a mass shooting.

To Jason Corburn, a professor at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, gun violence has always been a public health issue, and he has just finished teaching students at Berkeley School of Public Health how to address it as one.

All states should start with a core group of five foundational laws—passing background checks and/or purchase permitting, along with Extreme Risk laws and secure gun storage requirements; and rejecting Shoot First (also known as Stand Your Ground) and permitless carry laws. While each of the top 16 states in the gun law rankings has all five of these policies in place, only one of the bottom 18 states has even one of these critical protections.

The national gun safety landscape has seen states move in opposite directions in recent years. While all 12 states in our “making progress” tier have made significant additions to their firearm laws in recent years—with each adding several points to its gun law score—a whopping 26 states at the other end of the scale have made the dangerous decision to repeal their concealed carry permit requirements.