GUN DEATHS BY INTENT, 2019
In 2019, 39,707 people, an average of 108 every day, lost their lives to gun violence. It was the third consecutive year of nearly 40,000 gun deaths, and part of a three-year cluster with a higher gun death rate than any other time in the last two decades. The majority (60%) of gun deaths were suicides and a third of gun deaths were homicides.
TRENDS OVER TIME
Over the last two decades (2000-2019), the most recent five years have been the deadliest. The overall gun death rate has escalated, driven by a significant spike in firearm homicides and steady growth in firearm suicides. Over the last 20 years, the highest gun death rate occurred in 2017, while the lowest gun death rate occurred in 2004, 13 years prior to the peak.
The largest single-year increase in the overall gun death rate was from 2014 to 2015; this substantial 7.3% jump can be directly attributed to the astronomical increase in the firearm homicide rate that year. After years of decline (from 2006-2011), the firearm homicide rate increased 18%. Another substantial jump in the firearm homicide rate occurred the following year, from 2015 to 2016, when the rate increased 11%.
The change in the firearm suicide rate from year to year has been consistently and steadily increasing, with only a few exceptions. In 2019, there was a slight reprieve, with the rate dropping by nearly 3% from 2018.
Age-adjusted rate per 100,000
FIREARM HOMICIDES
Gun Deaths by Intent
Homicide by Method
Demographics
The majority of firearm homicide victims (84%) were male in 2019, with males five times more likely to be victims than females.
Young Black males (15-34) are especially disproportionately impacted, making up 2% of the population but accounting for 37% of all gun homicide fatalities. Their rate of firearm homicide was more than 20 times higher than White males of the same age group.
Among females, Black and American Indian/Alaska Native females had the highest risk of firearm homicide.
FIREARM SUICIDES
Gun Deaths by Intent
Suicide by Method
Demographics
Nearly nine in ten U.S. firearm suicide decedents are male (87% in 2019), reflecting the increased risk of firearm suicide for males as compared to females across all races/ethnicities and age groups. Males were nearly seven times more likely to die by firearm suicide than females.
Firearm suicide risk was highest among White men aged 75 and older, though for men of every other racial and ethnic identity, firearm suicide risk peaked between the ages of 20 and 34.
Among females, White females had the highest firearm suicide rate. While the risk of firearm suicide for White females peaked at ages 45-54, among females of each racial and ethnic identity other than White, the risk of suicide by firearm peaked younger women ages 25-34.
Last updated February 2021
