It’s Time to Recognize Suicide as a Driver of Gun-Related Deaths

By
Sam Meyerson
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Today, gun violence in the United States is an epidemic. Over the past decade, more than 1.2 million Americans were shot, and on average more than 36,000 Americans were killed every year by guns. Troublingly, the high number of gun deaths in the United States shows no signs of abating; between 2014 and 2017, gun fatalities increased by 16 percent. In the national discussion around gun violence, mass shootings dominate the headlines. The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that studies gun violence, defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter. According to the GVA, there were 417 total mass shootings in the United States in 2019, an average of more than one per day. 

Yet while mass shootings are unique in causing many fatalities in a short amount of time, they actually represent a small percentage of overall gun deaths in the United States. Of the 35,637 firearm deaths that occurred from January-November 2019, 21,912 or 61.5 percent of them were suicides. This reality defies popular perception: Most Americans are unaware that suicides represent such a high percentage of gun deaths. According to an October 2019 poll by the American Public Media Research Lab, only 23 percent of Americans correctly identified suicides as the leading cause of gun fatalities. The public perception is likely warped by a general stigma around open discussion of mental health issues, which is closely tied to suicide. However, if activists hope to significantly reduce gun violence in American society, they must overcome this culture of silence and consider the close link between access to guns and suicide.

National Trends in Gun Deaths

Using data collected from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the chart below displays the number of suicides and homicides by firearm per 100,000 people between 1999 and 2017.

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The CDC data highlights that suicide is the leading cause of firearm deaths in the United States. In each year from 1999 to 2017, suicides represented a greater percentage of overall gun deaths than homicides. Additionally, the data suggests that the overall increase in gun violence in the United States may be driven by a rise in suicides. While the number of homicides has fluctuated, the number of gun deaths corresponding to suicides has increased every year since 2006 except for 2014. The nearly continual increase in suicides by firearm over the past 13 years thus mirrors the overall rise in gun deaths over the same period. This trend highlights the disconnect between media coverage of gun violence and the reality of the situation. While news sources center their analysis on mass shootings, firearm suicides represent the largest fraction of gun deaths in the United States and are increasing in frequency. 

State-by-State Trends in Gun Deaths

CDC data also reveals that suicides represent varying fractions of total firearm deaths in states across the country. The interactive map below shows the percentage of firearm deaths that were suicides in each state in 2017. It suggests that low population density is a strong predictor of whether suicides represent a high percentage of total gun deaths in a specific state.  

Based on the data, there does not appear to be a strong correlation between the strictness of state gun laws and the percentage of gun fatalities that are suicides. States across the Deep South such as Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina have some of the loosest gun laws in the country, and states in the Northeast such as New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut have some of the strictest gun laws in the country. However, in each of these states, the percentage of gun fatalities that are suicides is between 50 and 60 percent. These figures suggest that state gun laws are not a driving factor behind diverging rates of gun-caused suicide across the country. This may be explained by the fact that individuals living in states with stricter gun laws can still purchase firearms from states with less stringent restrictions. Thus, tightening state gun laws without simultaneous national reform may not lead to significantly lower rates of firearm suicide. 

Suicides appear to represent a larger fraction of firearm deaths in rural areas. Every state where suicide represents over 85 percent of gun-related fatalities belongs to either the Mountain West or northern New England. Both of these regions are sparsely populated and lack large urban areas. The driving cause behind this phenomenon may be that Americans living in rural locations exhibit higher rates of suicide than those living in suburban or urban areas. Since guns are the most common means for suicide, it follows that the fraction of gun fatalities that are suicides will be greatest in rural states with higher suicide rates.

Reframing the Conversation

There is broad consensus that the current level of gun violence in the United States is unacceptable. However, focusing only on mass shootings and other violent crimes overlooks the close link between guns and suicide. In part due to the stigma surrounding suicide, the issue of firearm-caused suicide receives far less coverage than homicides or other mass casualty events such as mass shootings. However, suicide is by far the leading cause of gun fatalities, and the number of firearm suicides has increased almost continually over the past 13 years. 

Access to guns and suicide are closely related. Individuals with easy access to a gun are three times more likely to take their own life. Similarly, residents of California are 57 times more likely to commit suicide one week after purchasing a firearm. Given this stark reality, activists and politicians must overcome their reluctance to openly discuss suicide in conversations about gun violence if they want to combat the nation’s gun violence epidemic. Implementing national policies such as universal background checks and mandatory waiting periods before purchasing a gun may help reduce suicides. However, the first step to solving the firearm suicide crisis is to acknowledge the problem and open debate around potential solutions.

Image Credit: Flickr / Mitch Barrie