Calculate the Economic Cost of Gun Violence
8.12.2021
Last Updated: 2.9.2023
Introduction
Without a doubt, the human cost of gun violence is the most devastating. But examining the economic consequences of gun violence is paramount to understanding just how extensive and expensive this crisis is.
In July 2022, Everytown updated its study on the economic cost of gun violence in the United States that found that we are paying $557 billion for the aftermath of gun violence per year. Year after year.
This $557 billion problem includes three categories of costs: immediate costs, such as hospital treatment, ambulances, and the police response; subsequent costs, such as long-term physical and mental health care, institutional care, forgone earnings from disability or death, and criminal justice costs; and quality-of-life costs for pain and suffering over a victim’s lifespan.