Every day, nearly 130 people in the US are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and wounded. The effects of gun violence in America extend far beyond these casualties—gun violence shapes the lives of millions who witness it, know someone who was shot, or live in fear of the next shooting.
In order to illustrate the magnitude of everyday gun violence Everytown has gathered the most comprehensive, publicly available data. Still, significant data gaps remain—a result of underfunded, incomplete data collection at the state and federal levels. Filling these gaps is necessary to truly understand the full impact of gun violence in America.
Average number of people killed with guns in the United States each year: 46,111
CDC, WONDER, Provisional Mortality Statistics, Underlying Cause of Death (accessed August 10, 2026). Average: 2021–2025. Note: Research indicates that shootings by police are undercounted in CDC datasets, as incidents are often misclassified as homicides. Mapping Police Violence’s database is widely cited and estimates that more than 1,100 people are fatally shot by police in an average year—roughly twice as many as recorded by the CDC (Everytown Research analysis of Mapping Police Violence data, 2021–2025, (accessed January 27, 2026), https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/.)
Last updated: 10.8.2026
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Access to a gun triples the risk of death by suicide.
- When it comes to gun violence in the US, nearly 6 out of every 10 gun deaths are suicides.
- The US gun suicide rate is nearly 12 times that of other high-income countries.
- Access to a gun triples the risk of death by suicide. Gun suicides are concentrated in states with high rates of gun ownership.
- White men represent 69 percent of firearm suicide victims in America.
- Nearly four out of every 10 gun deaths are homicides.
- The rate of gun violence in America is staggering: The US gun homicide rate is 26 times that of other high-income countries.
- Access to a gun doubles the risk of death by homicide.
- Research shows that within these cities, a small percentage of the total population are people within the social networks most likely to be involved in gun violence. The majority of these people live in neighborhoods that are characterized by high rates of poverty, racial segregation and discrimination, and many other deep-rooted systemic and structural inequities.
- Black Americans represent the majority of gun homicide victims. In fact, Black people in the US are 12 times more likely than white people to die by gun homicide.
The US gun homicide rate is 26 times that of other high-income countries.
Everytown analysis of the most recent year of gun homicides by country (2013 to 2019), GunPolicy.org (accessed January 7, 2022).
Last updated: 11.1.2022
Children and Teens
- Firearms are the leading cause of death for American children and teens.
- More than 2,700 children and teens die by gun homicide every year. For children under the age of 13, these gun homicides most frequently occur in the home and are often connected to domestic or family violence.
- Black children and teens in the US are 19 times more likely than white children and teens of the same age to die by gun homicide.
Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the US.
CDC, WONDER, Provisional Mortality Statistics, Multiple Cause of Death, Injury Mechanism & All Other Leading Causes (accessed August 10, 2026). Data from 2025. Ages 1–19
Last updated: 10.8.2026
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Nearly 6 million women reported having a gun used on them by an intimate partner.
Ruth W. Leemis et al., “The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2016/2017 Report on Intimate Partner Violence,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, October 2022, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/124646. 4.7 percent of women (5.9 million) in the U.S. reported having a gun used on them by a current or former intimate partner at some point in their lifetime. While the survey question is up for interpretation by respondents and doesn’t provide further breakdowns, this count likely includes cases of being shot or shot at, hit with, and threats with a firearm.
- Women in the US are 28 times more likely to be killed with a gun than women in other high-income countries.
- Every month, more than 70 women in the US are shot and killed by an intimate partner, and many more are shot and wounded.
- Nearly 6 million women reported having a gun used on them by an intimate partner.
- Access to a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed.
- 59 percent of adults or someone they know or care about have experienced gun violence in their lifetime.
- Approximately 3 million American children witness gun violence every year.
MORE RESEARCH
Everytown Research & Policy is a program of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, an independent, non-partisan organization dedicated to understanding and reducing gun violence. Everytown Research & Policy works to do so by conducting methodologically rigorous research, supporting evidence-based policies, and communicating this knowledge to the American public.
Source: everytownresearch.org
