High gun-related mortality in the US

Guns are deeply ingrained in American society. The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives Americans the right to bear arms, and three-in-ten American adults personally own a gun. Most of these gun owners say the right to own firearms is essential to their own personal sense of freedom. At the same time, gun violence – from big-city murders to mass shootings – has spurred debate in Congress and state legislatures over proposals to limit Americans’ access to firearms.

Counting murders and suicides, nearly 40,000 people died of gun-related violence in the United States in 2017, the highest annual total in decades.

The United States, with less than 5 percent of the world’s population, has 46 percent of the world’s civilian-owned guns, according to a report by the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey.

It ranks number one in firearms per capita. The United States also has the highest homicide-by-firearm rate among the world’s most developed nations.

1. Facts on U.S. Gun Ownership - https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/22/facts-about-guns-in-united-states/#:~:text=Among%20Americans%20who%20own%20a,themselves%20not%20owning%20a%20gun.

2. U.S. Gun Policy: Global Comparison - https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/us-gun-policy-global-comparisons

Sierra Briscoe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sierrabriscoe/