December 18, 2014

What Kills More Americans: Guns or Cars?

And other questions about gun violence, answered in seven charts.


A study published this week in the Annual Review of Public Health summarizes some basic, sobering stats about about gun violence in America. The author, University of California-Davis doctor and researcher Garen Wintemute, used statistics from the Centers for Disease Control to track mortality rates from firearm suicides and homicides in the United States over more than fifty years.

Here are some of the findings from Wintemute’s study, in a handy—if grisly—Q&A format:

Which kills more Americans, guns or cars?

Answer: Car accidents, but firearms deaths are catching up. In some states, guns do kill more people than cars—check out this map.

Which kills more people: gun homicides or gun suicides?

Answer: Suicides, by a long shot. 

At what age do gun suicides and gun homicides kill the most people?

Answer: In 2012 (the most recent data available), gun homicides spiked among people in their late teens and early twenties, and declined in older populations. Suicide deaths peaked among people in their mid-twenties and gradually increased with age.

Which demographic has the highest gun homicide rate?

Answer: Young black males, by a long shot. The first chart shows the age breakdown for men in 2012; the second shows the same for women. Firearm homicide death rates peak among black men and women ages 20 to 24. But note the difference in scale: Among black males that age, the rate is nearly 90 deaths per 100,000 people, while for black females, the rate is about 7 deaths per 100,000.

 

Which demographic has the highest gun suicide rate?

Answer: Older white males, by a long shot. The first chart shows the age breakdown for men in 2012; the second shows the same for women.

 

Which demographic has the highest number of firearm deaths?

Answer: Middle-aged white males have the highest absolute number of deaths per year; in the 50-54 age category alone, about 1,900 white men died in 2012. Overall, about 9,000 white men died in 2012, compared to about 6,000 black men.

Which states have the highest gun homicide and gun suicide rates?

Answer: In 2012, Montana had the highest suicide rate, followed by Alaska, Idaho, and New Mexico. Louisiana had the highest homicide rate, followed by Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina.

So, how does America compare to other nations when it comes to gun deaths?

Answer: Not well at all.

 

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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