Issues

Impact of Gun Violence on Historically Marginalized Communities

Gun violence affects every person in America, but the weight of this crisis is not felt equally across demographic groups.

Armed Extremism

The U.S. faces a confluence of dangerous challenges from white supremacists, anti-government militias, and other armed groups and individuals of the extreme right that seek to perpetrate violence, spread conspiracies, traffic in hate speech, and engage in armed intimidation. Guns and gun rights are central to many extreme-right groups and individuals.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence and gun violence are deeply interconnected, impacting millions of women, families, and communities across the U.S. Guns are more likely to turn abuse fatal.

Suicide

Gun suicide claims the lives of nearly 25,000 people in America every year.[mfn]Everytown Research analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. WONDER Online Database, Underlying Cause of Death. A yearly average was developed using four years of the most recent available data: 2018 to 2021.[/mfn] This public health crisis should be addressed to reduce gun violence in this country.

Responsible Gun Ownership

There are an estimated 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the United States.[mfn]Aaron Karp, “Estimating Global Civilian-Held Firearms Numbers,” Small Arms Survey, June 2018, https://bit.ly/3snZ9fH.[/mfn] With gun ownership comes responsibility. All gun owners should take certain steps to ensure that their guns are used safely, stored securely, and that they don’t end up in the wrong hands.

Police Violence

Every year, police in America shoot and kill more than 1,000 people, and Black people are victims at a disproportionate rate. Curbing this gun violence requires confronting America’s history of racism, reimagining the role of police, and implementing policies that reduce police gun violence.

Mass Shootings

In the eight years between 2015 and 2022, over 19,000 people were shot and killed or wounded in the United States in a mass shooting. The reach of each mass shooting stretches far beyond those killed and wounded, harming the well-being of survivors, their families, and entire communities.

Industry Accountability

More than 100,000 people are shot and killed or wounded in the United States each year, but the gun industry plays by a special set of rules that allows it to avoid responsibility and endanger public safety.

Research Funding

Though more than 100,000 people are shot and killed or wounded in the US every year, Congress restricted research on the causes and impacts of gun violence for a significant period. Research on gun violence could lead to the development of life-saving scientific and policy solutions and is vital for assessing existing solutions over time.

Prohibited Gun Possessors

Keeping guns out of the hands of people who are likely to harm themselves or others—before they act—is the most effective way to prevent gun violence.

Hate Crimes

In an average year, more than 25,000 hate crimes in the US involve a firearm—69 a day. Easy access to guns gives a single, hate-filled individual the means to shatter numerous lives and whole communities.

School Safety

We need meaningful strategies to keep our nation’s schools safe. School communities must be provided with the tools they need to intervene and prevent school-based gun violence.

Public Places

Carrying a gun in public is a tremendous responsibility. Common-sense public safety laws help keep guns out of places where they don’t belong. They also ensure that people who carry concealed guns in public have undergone a background check and gun owner safety training.

Trafficking of Guns

Criminals get their hands on tens of thousands of guns every year through illegal trafficking. States with weak gun laws often serve as suppliers of guns to states with stronger gun laws. Law enforcement is constrained by insufficient laws to crack down on gun trafficking.

Ghost Guns

A ghost gun is a do-it-yourself, homemade gun made from easy-to-get building blocks that can be purchased with no background check and no questions asked. These guns are made by an individual, not a federally licensed manufacturer or importer. Ghost guns are the fastest-growing gun safety problem facing our country.

Downloadable Guns

Downloadable guns, or 3-D printed guns, are serious threats to our communities. With a 3-D printer and access to the computer schematics, anyone can build an untraceable firearm without a background check.

COVID & Gun Violence

Unprecedented increases in gun sales, combined with economic distress and social isolation due to COVID-19, intensified the country’s gun violence crisis.

City Gun Violence

Gun violence is prevalent in many U.S. cities, particularly in historically underfunded neighborhoods. It spreads through social networks and intensifies long-standing inequities and public health disparities.

Children & Teens

Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens (ages 1 to 19) in the United States.[mfn]Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. WONDER Online Database, Underlying Cause of Death, Injury Mechanism & All Other Leading Causes. Data from 2021.[/mfn] Every year, 19,000 children and teens are shot and killed or wounded[mfn]Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, WONDER Online Database, Underlying Cause of Death. A yearly average was developed using four years of the most recent available data: 2018 to 2021. Ages 0 to 19. Everytown For Gun Safety Support Fund, “A More Complete Picture: The Contours of Gun Injury in the United States,” December 2020, https://every.tw/33Hto3F.[/mfn] and approximately 3 million are exposed to gun violence.[mfn]David Finkelhor et al., “Prevalence of Childhood Exposure to Violence, Crime, and Abuse: Results from the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence,” JAMA Pediatrics 169, no. 8 (August 2015): 746-54, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0676. Everytown’s analysis derives the 3 million number by multiplying the share of children (ages 0 to 17) who are exposed to shootings per year (4 percent) by the total child population of the US in 2016 (~73.5 million).[/mfn]