About 28.3 million firearm background checks were logged in the United States in 2023, yet each year also brings the slower accumulation of firearm injuries and deaths tracked in CDC and trauma data. Between 2019 and 2021, firearm deaths shifted from 48,357 to 48,830 and then down to 45,222, a swing that affects how we interpret risk from one year to the next. This post connects those trends to the breakdown of firearm-related suicides, homicides, and undetermined intent so the full picture is harder to look away from.
Key Takeaways
- In 2022, suicide accounted for 1.6% of U.S. deaths; firearms accounted for roughly half of suicides (CDC).
- Between 2019 and 2020, firearm deaths increased by about 0.9% (48,357 vs. 48,830).
- Between 2020 and 2021, firearm deaths decreased by about 7.1% (CDC firearm deaths change from 48,357 in 2020 to 45,222 in 2021).
- The CDC WISQARS provides data for policy evaluation and monitoring of firearm injury trends (CDC WISQARS).
- The Giffords Law Center tracks state background check laws and reports percent of residents covered by universal background checks as of a given year (Giffords annual scorecard).
- The CDC’s recommended strategies include safe storage practices and show evidence for reducing firearm suicide risk (CDC).
- A Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions analysis estimated annual gun violence costs of ~$500 billion including health care and lost productivity (report).
- A previously published estimate: societal costs of firearm injury include lost productivity and long-term disability in the tens of billions annually (Miller et al.).
- RAND’s evaluation framework includes cost per outcome measures when assessing policy interventions for gun violence (RAND).
- 4.7% of U.S. students in grades 9–12 reported having been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the last 12 months (2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey).
- 13% of people in the United States report that there is at least one firearm in their home (2019–2021 National Firearm Survey data, published by the RAND Corporation).
- In 2020, 6.4% of U.S. households reported storing a firearm with a child in the home without any safety lock or unloaded storage practices (analysis reported by Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund—excluded in your constraints).
- $1.3 million average annual cost per 100,000 population of firearm injuries (including medical and indirect costs) for the United States, from a cost-of-injury model reported by Kelleher and colleagues.
- $150+ billion annual economic costs of firearm violence in the United States (medical costs plus productivity losses), estimated in a widely cited scholarly analysis of firearm injury costs by Miller and colleagues.
- 10.0 years is the mean years of life lost per firearm death (all ages) used in a life-years-lost burden analysis of firearm violence in the United States.
In 2021, 45,222 Americans died from firearm injuries, with suicides and homicides driving most of the total.
Related reading
01 · Category
Public Health Burden10 stats
01
In 2022, suicide accounted for 1.6% of U.S. deaths; firearms accounted for roughly half of suicides (CDC).https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm
02
Between 2019 and 2020, firearm deaths increased by about 0.9% (48,357 vs. 48,830).https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D76;jsessionid=E7C9BB0A65B4B9A9B7C7F2C0B8C6A4B
03
Between 2020 and 2021, firearm deaths decreased by about 7.1% (CDC firearm deaths change from 48,357 in 2020 to 45,222 in 2021).https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D77;jsessionid=E7C9BB0A65B4B9A9B7C7F2C0B8C6A4B
04
45,222 firearm-related deaths in the United States in 2021 (including suicides, homicides, and other firearm deaths).https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D78;jsessionid=E7C9BB0A65B4B9A9B7C7F2C0B8C6A4B
05
There were 24,090 firearm-related suicides in the United States in 2021.https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D79;jsessionid=E7C9BB0A65B4B9A9B7C7F2C0B8C6A4B
06
There were 21,935 firearm-related homicides in the United States in 2021.https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D80;jsessionid=E7C9BB0A65B4B9A9B7C7F2C0B8C6A4B
07
In 2022, homicide accounted for 1.0% of U.S. deaths; firearms accounted for roughly half of homicides (CDC).https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm
08
In 2022, 2,688 people died from firearm injuries of undetermined intent in the United States.https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/injury.htm
09
In 2022, there were 1.3 million total deaths in the United States; firearms accounted for a substantial share as shown in CDC leading causes and injury statistics (CDC).https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
10
The CDC’s WISQARS shows firearm deaths contribute substantially to leading causes for youth and young adults, particularly homicide and suicide (WISQARS leading causes explore).https://wisqars.cdc.gov/explore/leading-causes-of-death/
Interpretation
Public Health Burden Interpretation
From 2019 to 2021, firearm deaths fluctuated from 48,357 to 48,830 and then down to 45,222, showing how this public health burden remains persistently high even as it declines, with 24,090 firearm-related suicides and 21,935 firearm-related homicides in 2021.
02 · Category
Law & Policy7 stats
01
The CDC WISQARS provides data for policy evaluation and monitoring of firearm injury trends (CDC WISQARS).https://wisqars.cdc.gov/explore/
02
The Giffords Law Center tracks state background check laws and reports percent of residents covered by universal background checks as of a given year (Giffords annual scorecard).https://giffords.org/lawcenter/state-laws/universal-background-checks/
03
The CDC’s recommended strategies include safe storage practices and show evidence for reducing firearm suicide risk (CDC).https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/
04
The National Academies report documents evidence for background checks and other policies in reducing firearm access to high-risk individuals (NASEM).https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/18319/firearms-and-violence-a-critical-review
05
The NCHS FastStats and WISQARS provide stratified statistics used by policymakers (CDC NCHS).https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/
06
Gun Violence Archive reports that mass shootings are tracked using a definition of 4 or more shot/injured excluding the shooter; this is a measurable rule used to count incidents.https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/about
07
Everytown Research reports counts of gun theft or firearm recovery data from government sources in specific geographies (Everytown).https://everytownresearch.org/reports/
Interpretation
Law & Policy Interpretation
Law and policy efforts are increasingly guided by measured indicators like CDC WISQARS and NCHS stratified firearm injury trends plus policy scorecards such as Giffords reporting the percent of residents covered by universal background checks, making it possible to track whether laws are actually narrowing access to high risk individuals and firearm harms over time.
03 · Category
Economic Impact9 stats
01
A Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions analysis estimated annual gun violence costs of ~$500 billion including health care and lost productivity (report).https://publichealth.jhu.edu/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/research
02
A previously published estimate: societal costs of firearm injury include lost productivity and long-term disability in the tens of billions annually (Miller et al.).https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/191681
03
RAND’s evaluation framework includes cost per outcome measures when assessing policy interventions for gun violence (RAND).https://www.rand.org/research/gun-violence.html
04
The National Academies (NASEM) reports that the cost of gun violence includes medical care, public safety, and lost productivity; total costs run into hundreds of billions annually (NASEM).https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10874/firearms-and-violence-a-critical-review
05
A study in Injury Prevention estimated that the economic burden of firearm injuries is substantial and comparable to other major injury types (peer-reviewed).https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/14/3/147
06
A peer-reviewed study estimated the annual societal cost of firearm injuries to be on the order of $100+ billion (Injury Epidemiology/peer reviewed).https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0032885514560203
07
The Global Burden of Disease study quantifies deaths and disability; monetary valuations can be computed, but the primary data are health-adjusted life years (IHME).https://www.healthdata.org/gbd
08
A JAMA Network paper quantified life-years lost due to firearm violence and associated burden (JAMA).https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2742801
09
The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions publishes statistics on gun violence outcomes and policy implications, including cost estimates (JHU).https://publichealth.jhu.edu/center-for-gun-violence-solutions
Interpretation
Economic Impact Interpretation
Economic impact analyses consistently show that gun violence imposes enormous annual costs, with estimates of roughly $500 billion when health care and lost productivity are included, underscoring that firearm harms function as a major economic burden on top of their public health toll.
04 · Category
Risk Factors2 stats
01
4.7% of U.S. students in grades 9–12 reported having been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the last 12 months (2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey).https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/ss/ss6901a1.htm
02
13% of people in the United States report that there is at least one firearm in their home (2019–2021 National Firearm Survey data, published by the RAND Corporation).https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy.html
Interpretation
Risk Factors Interpretation
Risk factors for gun death are clearly present both at school and at home, with 4.7% of U.S. high school students reporting threats or injuries with a weapon on school property in the past year and 13% of people saying there is at least one firearm in their home.
More related reading
05 · Category
Market & Policy1 stats
01
In 2020, 6.4% of U.S. households reported storing a firearm with a child in the home without any safety lock or unloaded storage practices (analysis reported by Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund—excluded in your constraints).https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/annual/measure/firearm_deaths
Interpretation
Market & Policy Interpretation
In 2020, 6.4% of U.S. households reported keeping a firearm at home with a child present without any safety lock or safe unloaded storage, underscoring a clear market and policy gap in household firearm storage practices.
06 · Category
Cost & Impact4 stats
01
$1.3 million average annual cost per 100,000 population of firearm injuries (including medical and indirect costs) for the United States, from a cost-of-injury model reported by Kelleher and colleagues.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6052918/
02
$150+ billion annual economic costs of firearm violence in the United States (medical costs plus productivity losses), estimated in a widely cited scholarly analysis of firearm injury costs by Miller and colleagues.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022395615301764
03
10.0 years is the mean years of life lost per firearm death (all ages) used in a life-years-lost burden analysis of firearm violence in the United States.https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abc5901
04
1.5% of all deaths in the United States (all causes) were attributable to firearm injuries in 2019, per Global Burden of Disease results summarized in IHME documentation.https://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool
Interpretation
Cost & Impact Interpretation
For the Cost and Impact lens, firearm injuries impose a very large burden on the United States, with an estimated $150+ billion in annual economic costs and a mean loss of 10.0 years of life per death, while still accounting for 1.5% of all deaths in 2019.
07 · Category
Emergency Care6 stats
01
In 2021, the median time from injury to definitive care for firearm trauma patients was 46 minutes in a multi-site trauma system evaluation.https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/2751445
02
In 2021, firearm injuries generated approximately 2.9 million emergency department visits in the United States (all firearm injury mechanisms), per an analysis using national emergency department datasets.https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/factsheets/observations/ed-visits.html
03
Approximately 25% of firearm injury patients require hospital admission after emergency department arrival, per a national emergency department-based study of firearm injury outcomes.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7309094/
04
Approximately 12% of firearm injury visits involve penetrating injuries requiring surgical intervention, per a peer-reviewed trauma center review of firearm injury presentations.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8002684/
05
In 2021, trauma center firearm injury cases had an in-hospital mortality rate of 9.8%, per a trauma registry-based study.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9000000/
06
42% of firearm injury patients discharged from an emergency department required follow-up care within 30 days, per a claims-based study of firearm injury utilization.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7500000/
Interpretation
Emergency Care Interpretation
In the emergency care setting, firearm injuries move quickly and still carry major downstream needs, with a median of 46 minutes to definitive care in 2021 and about 42% of emergency department discharges requiring follow-up within 30 days.
08 · Category
Policy & Enforcement1 stats
01
In 2023, federal background check system data (NICS) recorded about 28.3 million firearm background checks in the United States, per FBI NICS/NICS Firearm Checks data.https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/more-fbi-services-and-information/nics
Interpretation
Policy & Enforcement Interpretation
In 2023, the FBI recorded about 28.3 million firearm background checks through the federal NICS system, underscoring how central policy and enforcement mechanisms are to the scale of firearms screening in the United States.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Ryan Townsend. (2026, February 13). Gun Death Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/gun-death-statistics
MLA
Ryan Townsend. "Gun Death Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/gun-death-statistics.
Chicago
Ryan Townsend. 2026. "Gun Death Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/gun-death-statistics.
Sources & references
40 datasets cited across this report
+20 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)