Gun Fun

Firearm violence trends in the 21st century
December 17, 2014
University of California - Davis Health System
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141217090810.htm

While the overall death rate from firearm violence has remained unchanged for more than a decade, the patterns for suicide and homicide have changed dramatically, a UC Davis study on the epidemiology of gun violence from 2003 to 2012 has found. The study posted online in the Annual Review of Public Health on Dec. 12 and will appear in the print edition in January.

"Suicide by firearm is far more common than homicide," said Garen J. Wintemute, professor of emergency medicine and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis. "Over the past 30 years, firearm suicides have exceeded homicides even when homicide rates were at their highest in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But, since 2006, the gap between the two has been widening, with firearm homicides decreasing and suicides increasing."

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Firearm homicide: Young blacks at high risk

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Firearm suicide: White males and females at higher risk

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Mass killings: a small percentage of deaths

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Firearm violence facts from 2003 -- 2012

(1}  300,659 deaths from firearm violence -- more than U.S. combat fatalities in WWII An average of    82.3 deaths every day.

(2)  $165 billion in costs to society in 2010

(3)  In 2012, 96.2 percent of all firearm deaths were from homicide and suicide, and 64 percent of deaths from firearm violence were suicides.

(4)  Compared to other industrialized nations, the U.S. has a low predisposition to violence but the highest firearm mortality.

Point 4 is interesting, stating that our predisposition to violence is low, yet our mortality due to guns is very high.
 

Risk factors for firearm violence
According to the General Social Survey, more than 50 million people in the U.S. own firearms. Firearm ownership increases risk of firearm homicide or suicide at the population, household and individual levels, Wintemute said.
"Focusing on known risk factors and predictors for firearm violence can have a broad impact," Wintemute said. "We know alcohol and controlled substance abuse are important predictors of future risk for violence directed at others or at oneself, whether or not mental illness is also present." ...

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