Nearly 40,000 people in the United States died by guns last year, marking the highest number of gun deaths in 38 years, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s WONDER database.
CNN replicated that analysis and found that 39,773 people died by guns in 2017, which is an increase of more than 10,000 deaths from the 28,874 in 1999. The age-adjusted rate of firearm deaths per 100,000 people rose from 10.3 per 100,000 in 1999 to 12 per 100,000 in 2017.
CNN's analysis also showed that 23,854 people died from suicide by guns in 2017, the highest number in 18 years. That's a difference of more than 7,000 deaths compared with 16,599 suicide deaths by guns in 1999, CNN said.
The age-adjusted rate of suicide deaths by firearm rose from 6.0 in 1999 to 6.9 in 2017, CNN said.
Firearm deaths in the data include gun deaths by homicide and suicide, unintentional deaths, deaths in war or legal interventions, and deaths that are
undetermined. CNN said.
When the data are analyzed by race and gender, they show that white men made up 23,927 of the total 39,773 firearm deaths last year, including suicides. CNN said.
Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence Director of Public Health Research Adelyn Allchin issued the following statement:
“In 2017, nearly 109 people died every single day from gun violence. Gun violence is a public health epidemic that requires a public health solution, which is why we must immediately enact and implement evidence-based interventions – like permit-to-purchase policies and extreme risk laws.
“Gun violence has been part of our day-to-day lives for far too long. It is way past time that elected leaders at every level of government work together to make gun violence rare and abnormal.”
