2023 had more gun suicide deaths in the US than any other year on record, surpassing the combined deaths from gun homicide, unintentional shootings, and police shootings.
According to a recent analysis that examined government mortality data, 58% of all gun-related deaths in 2023—the most recent year for which data is available—were suicides with weapons. The Johns Hopkins Center for Suicide Prevention and the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions report that 27,300 individuals died by gun suicide in 2023.
Finalized data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention served as the basis for the conclusions. According to the CDC’s Wonder database, gun-related injuries claimed 46,728 lives overall in 2023.
The number of gun-related killings decreased for the second consecutive year, from 20,958 in 2021 to 19,651 in 2022 and 17,927 in 2023. According to the report, despite the drop, the 2023 total for gun homicides is the fifth highest on record.
In 2023, gun suicide rates were higher in rural, sparserly inhabited states. With almost 19.9 gun suicide deaths per 100,000 residents, Wyoming had the highest rate in the country. Massachusetts had the lowest rate, with roughly 2.1 per 100,000.
According to Rose Kim, the report’s principal author and assistant policy adviser at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, people are just using guns when contemplating suicide since they are very dangerous and readily available. That combination is extremely lethal and is a major contributing factor to the suicide pandemic in our nation.
According to the report, for almost thirty years, suicide has been the most common cause of gun-related deaths in the United States. Even while gun killings and mass shootings have received the majority of public attention and political action, that tendency has persisted.
Permitless carry in North Carolina, a statewide ban on red flag or extreme risk protective orders in Texas, bans on assault-style weapons in Rhode Island, and rapid-fire devices in Oregon are just a few of the new gun laws that have been passed or implemented this year by both Republican-led and Democratic-led states.
The Michigan Senate passed legislation this week that would outlaw ghost firearms and bump stocks. A new law that will go into effect in May 2027 in the state of Washington will require potential gun buyers to apply for a five-year permit with the Washington State Patrol.
A bill signed into law by Republican Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama in March made the state the 26th to ban gun conversion devices, or auto sears, which may convert semiautomatic firearms into fully automatic weapons. She signed a provision into law in April that permits anyone having suicidal thoughts to turn in a firearm to a certified firearms dealer.
According to Kim, rules pertaining to safe storage, firearm buyer licensing, and extreme risk protection orders are some examples of state policies that can assist lower the number of gun-related fatalities. In an interview, she stated that it’s also critical to acknowledge that there are evidence-based public health measures that can effectively prevent gun suicides and save lives.
In 2023, the Johns Hopkins study found that men were almost seven times more likely than women to die by gun suicide. Men aged 70 and older had the greatest firearm suicide rate.
With 2,581 recorded deaths in 2023, firearms continued to be the greatest cause of mortality for kids under the age of 17 for the fourth year in a row.
Gun suicide rates among youths between the ages of 10 and 19 was mostly constant from year to year, with 1,252 suicides in 2023 compared to 1,238 in 2022; nevertheless, racial and ethnic breakdowns revealed glaring differences.
Black youths aged 10 to 19 had a gun suicide rate that more than tripled from 2014, from one death per 100,000 to 3.3 in 2023. The rate for white youth in the same age range, on the other hand, rose more slowly, from 2.6 to 3 per 100,000. Black youth had a greater rate than their white counterparts for the second year in a row.
According to CDC data, the number of gun suicides among Hispanic kids aged 10 to 19 nearly doubled between 2014 and 2023.
Stateline’s Armanda Hernandez
Amanda Hernndez, a reporter for Stateline, may be contacted at [email protected].
