stan van houcke: Land of the Free. Home of the Brave

zondag 28 oktober 2018

Land of the Free. Home of the Brave

August 8, 2018

Every day, 96 Americans are killed with guns and hundreds more are shot and injured. The effects of gun violence extend far beyond these casualties—gun violence shapes the lives of millions of Americans who witness it, know someone who was shot, or live in fear of the next shooting.

In order to illustrate the magnitude of everyday gun violence, Everytown has gathered the most comprehensive, publicly available data. Still, significant data gaps remain—a result of underfunded, incomplete data collection at the state and federal level. Filling these gaps is necessary to truly understand the full impact of gun violence in the United States.

GUN DEATHS & INJURIES BY INTENT

GUN DEATHS BY INTENT1

GUN INJURIES BY INTENT2

*Note: This intent category is believed to be underreported and is likely being misclassified as homicide.3 The Washington Post’s database is widely cited and estimates that 982 civilians are fatally shot by police in an average year—more than twice as many as recorded by the CDC.4

GUN SUICIDE

Nearly two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides.5 The U.S. gun suicide rate is eight times that of other high-income countries.6
Access to a gun increases the risk of death by suicide by three times.7 Gun suicides are concentrated in states with high rates of gun ownership.8
Most people who attempt suicide do not die—unless they use a gun. Across all suicide attempts not involving a firearm, less than five percent will result in death.9 But for gun suicides, those statistics are flipped: approximately 85 percent of gun suicide attempts end in death.10
White men represent 75 percent of firearm suicide victims in America.11

GUN HOMICIDE

One-third of gun deaths are homicides.12 The U.S. gun homicide rate is 25 times that of other high-income countries.13
Access to a gun increases the risk of death by homicide by two times.14
Gun homicides are concentrated in cities—half of all gun homicides took place in just 127 cities, which represented nearly a quarter of the U.S. population.15 Within these cities, gun homicides are most prevalent in racially segregated neighborhoods with high rates of poverty.16
Black Americans represent the majority of gun homicide victims.17In fact, Black Americans are 10 times more likely than white Americans to die by gun homicide.18

GUN ASSAULTS

Three-quarters of nonfatal gun injuries are caused by assaults.19
Black males are 16 times more likely than white males to be shot and injured in assaults involving guns.20

CHILDREN AND TEENS

Firearms are the second leading cause of death for American children and teens and the first leading cause of death for Black children and teens.21
Nearly 1,600 children and teens die by gun homicide every year.22For children under the age of 13, these gun homicides most frequently occur in the home and are often connected to domestic or family violence.23
Black children and teens are 15 times more likely than white children and teens of the same age to die by gun homicide.24

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Women in the U.S. are 16 times more likely to be killed with a gun than women in other high-income countries.25
In an average month, 50 American women are shot to death by an intimate partner,26 and many more are injured.
Nearly one million women alive today have been shot or shot at by an intimate partner.27 Approximately 4.5 million American women alive today have been threatened with a gun by an intimate partner.28
Access to a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed.29
Black women are twice as likely to be fatally shot by an intimate partner compared to white women.30

IMPACT ON AMERICANS

Approximately 44 percent of American adults report knowing someone who has been shot and nearly 25 percent report that they or someone in their family have been threatened or intimidated by someone using a gun.31
Approximately three million American children witness gun violence every year.32