The United States is one of the greatest nations in the world. But compared to our peers, we're one of the worst when it comes to gun violence.
In America, you can be shot at an elementary school. You can be murdered at a church or movie theatre.
You can even be executed on live TV — and yet there's no real expectation of gun reform.
Gun-related violence and death is a real public health problem in America, researchers say. And these three charts illustrate why.
1. Gun-related deaths in America wildly outpace our peer nations
More than 32,000 people per year are killed by guns in the United States — at least.
The total number's incomplete because some gun-related deaths are left out of CDC statistics, Adrienne LaFrance wrote at The Atlantic earlier this year. That's partly because of privacy concerns, the mystery over some police-related shooting data ... and the political consequences of taking on the gun lobby, LaFrance points out.
Notably, the CDC has avoided some research into gun-related injury, and the Washington Post suggests that "fear and funding shortfalls" are to blame.
(Researchers have repeatedly called on the CDC to better study firearm-related injuries and deaths, Todd Frankel writes at the Post, given concerns within the scientific community "that gun violence as a public health problem was being ignored.")
However, some independent groups like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime have compiled statistics on gun-related deaths. And the United States doesn't fare well: Compared to all of our peer nations (including the three countries highlighted below), we're much more likely to die by gun.
2. More people now die by guns than by cars
For decades, the most dangerous piece of machinery was an automobile.
But now, it's a gun.
That's according to LaFrance's article and a Center for American Progress report from 2014 that looked specifically at the mounting burden of gun deaths among young Americans.
Advocates of gun control reform say that America's lack of regulation around guns — compared to our stricter rules for automobiles, appliances, and practically everything else — are to blame.
"Overall, the CDC numbers indicate that gun deaths are trending somewhat upward as motor vehicle deaths continue on a steady decline, thanks in large measure to serious government safety regulation aimed at reducing fatalities and injuries that is notably missing in the sphere of firearms," Dorothy Samuels wrote at the New York Times last year.
"In fact, guns remain the only consumer product not regulated at the federal level for health and safety, in keeping with the wishes of the gun industry and compliant lawmakers," she added.
3. It's not just murders: Gun violence touches thousands of innocent lives
More than 11,000 people are murdered by guns every year. But America's gun violence problem goes far beyond homicides: Most gun-related deaths are by suicide. Hundreds of innocent children have been unintentionally shot and killed in the past five years, according to an Everytown for Gun Safety 2014 report.
For Everytown's report, researchers examined one year — December 2013 through December 2014 — of unintentional shooting records. And based on available data, toddlers were disproportionately likely to suffer from a self-inflicted gunshot death.
According to Everytown's report, 70% of child shooting deaths could've been prevented by responsible storage.
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From the archives:
- Why Baltimore Burned
- America's Uninsured Rate Is Down To 10% - And Falling
- Why More Doctors Are Quitting — And Why It's Not Obama's Fault
- Mass Shootings Are Rising. Here's How To Stop Them.
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