How many people are shot in the U.S.? How many Americans are injured by guns?
These are important questions to answer. We need reliable gun violence data in order to accurately understand America’s gun violence epidemic. That is why Brady relies on the most accurate resources available when looking to understand the way gun violence impacts the U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provides annual gun fatality data. Using data from the most recent years available (2013-2017), Brady established five-year averages to represent annual gun fatalities in the most accurate way possible.
However, while Brady historically used CDC data to establish averages for gun injuries as well, recent findings show there are more accurate sources. Due to funding restrictions and other constraints, the sample size utilized by the CDC is so small one has to question its statistical significance. Data provided by Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project’s HCUPnet, and collected from emergency departments and databases, gives a more comprehensive picture of the way gun injuries affect those living in the U.S.. The numbers below represent a three-year average of the most recent HCUPnet data available (2013, ‘14, and ‘16).
This difference in data source has had an impact on some of the numbers compared to previous statistics reported by Brady. Amongst those differences, it is important to note that data reported for children and teens previously included 0-19 year olds, and now contains data only for 1-17 year olds. This change is responsible for a significant decrease in the number of deaths and injuries reported in this category due to the high number of gun injuries found amongst 18-19 year olds.
Every day, 310 people are shot in the United States. Among those:
Every day, 21 children and teens (1-17) are shot in the United States. Among those:
Every year, 113,108 people are shot. Among those:
Every year, 7,782 children and teens are shot in the United States. Among those:
*This number is a five-year average derived from Violence Policy Center’s “When Men Murder Women” analysis of FBI homicide data, 2012-16 (the five most recent years available for this).
Brady averaged the five most recent years of complete data from death certificates (2013-17) available via CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control’s Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System, cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal.html, and three most recent years of complete data from emergency department visits (2013, ‘14, and ‘16) available via the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project’s (HCUP’s) online query system, hcupnet.ahrq.gov. Numbers may not sum to 100% because of rounding of CDC averages.
Emergency department statistics on HCUPnet are from the HCUP Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD), and State Inpatient Databases (SID). All diagnoses of external cause of injury that patients receive in emergency departments are assigned an International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code. The assignments of specific ICD codes are reflected in the data shown here.
