Firearm Deaths Grow, Disparities Widen — CDC Vital Signs

A CDC Vital Signs report updated June 6, 2022, with data through 2020.

At a glance

• From 2019 to 2020 the firearm homicide rate rose about 35%, and the firearm suicide rate stayed high.
• The largest rise in firearm homicide was among Black people (39%); the largest rise in firearm suicide was among American Indian and Alaska Native people (42%).
• In 2020, counties with the highest poverty had firearm homicide rates 4.5 times and firearm suicide rates 1.3 times those of the lowest-poverty counties.

A growing problem

Firearm deaths are a significant and growing public health problem. In 2020, 79% of all homicides and 53% of all suicides involved a firearm, and the firearm homicide rate was the highest recorded in more than 25 years.

Long-standing systemic inequities and structural racism limit economic and educational opportunity and drive unfair, avoidable health differences among some racial and ethnic groups. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the steep rise in firearm homicide, and notable rises in firearm suicide for some groups, widened those gaps. Young people, males and Black people had the highest firearm homicide rates and the largest increases in 2020.

The reasons are likely complex. Pandemic stresses may have contributed:

• changes and disruptions to services and education;
• mental stress;
• social isolation;
• economic strain — lost jobs, unstable housing, trouble paying for daily needs.

Challenges

• Ripple effects — firearm homicides and suicides reach beyond those killed, to friends, families and co-workers.
• Lethality — firearms cause deadly injuries and are often used in homicides and suicides.
• Growing gaps — the pandemic may have worsened social and economic stresses that raise the risk, especially in racial and ethnic minority communities.
• Poverty — higher-poverty counties had higher firearm homicide rates and larger increases, and higher firearm suicide rates too.
• Many causes — social, economic and physical conditions in communities all contribute.

What works

Firearm deaths are preventable, not inevitable. Stopping them needs a comprehensive approach aimed at reducing inequities and at the physical, social, economic and structural conditions that raise the risk — some actions work quickly, others over the long term — with partners across sectors working directly with communities.

• Street outreach and hospital-based programmes connect people with the greatest needs to services and defuse tensions that can lead to violence.
• Green spaces — cleaning vacant lots, planting grass and trees in high-risk areas — change the physical and social conditions behind violence; revitalised lots are linked to fewer firearm assaults, especially in the poorest areas.
• Economic and household stability — housing assistance, childcare subsidies, tax credits and livable wages — can lift families out of poverty and reduce stress.

A comprehensive approach involves policymakers; local, state and tribal governments; health, education, justice and social-service agencies; businesses; and community groups, choosing data-driven programmes that meet local needs. CDC's violence-prevention technical packages and surveillance systems help leaders pick proven programmes.

Health care and service providers

• Hospital programmes that work with victims of violence can prevent further violence, and interventions for people at risk of suicide can prevent further attempts.
• Counselling and education paired with a safety device such as a lockbox are linked to safer firearm storage at home.
• Expanding social, emotional, physical and mental health services can prevent substance use and suicide attempts and address the trauma of violence.

Community partners

• Street outreach programmes such as Cure Violence connect people at higher risk with services while reducing tensions.
• Individuals, communities and businesses can promote safe firearm storage (a Department of Veterans Affairs toolkit) to prevent unauthorised use.
• Mentoring, norms against intimate-partner and other violence, coping and problem-solving skills, and substance-use prevention reduce the risk of all kinds of violence.

Local and state governments

• Use data to choose effective, lasting programmes and policies that address the conditions behind violence inequities and promote safe firearm practices.
• Policies for household and economic stability can reduce family poverty and other risk factors over the long term.

The chart labels the suicide rate "ages 10 and older" and the homicide rate "all ages"; the page's accompanying data give the opposite.

Sources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vital Signs, Firearm Deaths Grow, Disparities Widen, and the MMWR report behind it, Vital Signs: Changes in Firearm Homicide and Suicide Rates — United States, 2019–2020. The page's stock photo collage is left out.