Fun Gun Facts

• Seventy million Americans own guns, and 48 percent of all households have at least one firearm.
• There are 200 million firearms of all types in the U.S., including 60-70 million handguns and 40 million rifles, 2-3 million of which are assault rifles. Two million new handguns are sold each year.
• There are 245,000 federally licensed gun dealers nationwide.

• There were 10,567 handgun homicides in the U.S. in 1990. There were 91 in Switzerland, 87 in Japan, 68 in Canada, 22 in Great Britain, 13 in Sweden, and 10 in Australia.
• In Washington in 1992, handguns were used in 118 homicides, more than the combined total of Canada and Great Britain, which have a combined population 13 times that of our state.
• Nationwide, more than 60,000 people died from gunshots in 1991-92 - more than who died in during the Vietnam War era. Handguns are used in three-fourths of U.S. firearm homicides.
• In Washington, firearms were used in 1,300 suicides from 1989-91. Nationwide, handguns were used in 12,600 suicides and caused about 1,000 accidental deaths in 1991.
• In urban homes, three out of four homicide victims were killed by relatives or people they knew. Half died in arguments or love triangles.
• Nationwide, 70 percent of police officers killed while on the job in 1991 were shot with handguns.
• The South, where states have relatively lax gun-control laws, has an annual homicide rate of 13 people per 100,000. The Northeast, where states have stricter handgun laws, has an annual homicide rate of 8 people per 100,000.
• Doctors at Harborview Medical Center's emergency room see four gunshot victims a day. They saw one a day 20 years ago.
• In 1985, stray bullets killed four New Yorkers. In 1990, they killed 40.

• Every 24 hours, assailants with handguns rape 33 women, rob 575 people and assault another 1,116.
• Every year, more than 600,000 violent crimes are committed nationwide with handguns.
• A third of armed rapes, robberies and assaults are committed with firearms.

• In Washington, a gun in the home is 43 times more likely to be used to kill its owner, a relative or friend than an intruder.
• In a survey of 2,000 felons, 44 percent said they would not be significantly deterred from robbing or assaulting someone carrying a gun.

• One in every five teen deaths is caused by a gun.
• Nationwide in 1989, 2,367 youths under 20 were murdered with guns, 1,380 committed suicide with guns, and 567 died in unintentional shootings. That's an average of 14 dead kids every day.
• More than half the people arrested for homicide in Washington are 15-24.
• Gunshot wounds to kids under 16 in major urban areas nearly doubled between 1987-90.
• One of six pediatricians has treated a young gunshot victim.
• Firearms are the leading cause of death - 50 percent - for black males aged 15-24, and the second-leading cause of death of all males aged 15-24.
• Firearm murders of youngsters under 20 more than doubled from 1984-90.
• 1.2 million elementary-aged, latchkey kids have access to guns in their homes.
• Half of all accidental handgun shootings of kids under 17 occur in their homes. A third occur in the homes of friends and relatives. More than half of the shooters were other children.
• Two-thirds of Washington's homicide victims are under 35.

• A third of Seattle high school students say they have a gun or easy access to one. One quarter said they have taken a gun to school.
• At least 270,000 guns are taken to school by kids on an average day.
• Gun confiscations in California schools tripled from 1986-90.
• Nine of every 10 weapons seized in Florida schools were traced to students' homes.

• Every six hours, a youth between 10-19 years old commits suicide with a gun - nearly 1,400 nationwide in 1989.
• Guns are used in two-thirds of male teen suicides and half of female teen suicides.
• Adolescents who live in a home where a gun is kept are twice as likely to kill themselves as those who live without guns.
• Suicidal teenagers who have been drinking are five times as likely to use guns than any other suicide method.
• Guns are the most lethal suicide method - 92 percent of attempted suicides with guns are completed.

• Annual gunshot treatment costs at Seattle's Harborview Medical Center tripled from 1986-92, to $3 million.
• Nationwide, firearm injuries cause more than $4 billion in direct medical costs and $14.4 billion in lifetime medical costs (including lost productivity). 85 percent of these costs are paid with public money.
• The average hospital bill for a gunshot victim is $13,200, while total medical expenses can reach $3 million.
• Gunplay contributes to the U.S. having the most police and prisons per capita than any country on Earth.

• 52 percent of Americans favor banning private ownership of handguns. (The Harris poll, taken this past summer, was the first time that most people favored such a ban).
• 35 percent of Seattle school children say they fear they will be killed by gunfire.
• 59 percent of 6th-12th graders in Seattle say they can get a gun.
• 95 percent of Americans and 88 percent of gun owners support a seven-day waiting period for handgun purchases.
• 72 percent of Americans support a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons.
• 75 percent of Americans support a 20 percent tax on all gun and ammunition purchases.
• 77 percent of Americans believe that guns are a public health problem.

Sources: American Academy of Pediatrics, American Journal of Public Health, Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, Centers for Disease Control, FBI Uniform Crime Statistics, Gallop, Harris, Injury Prevention Network, Journal of the American Medical Association, National Center for Health Statistics, National Safety Council, New England Journal of Medicine, Time/CNN/USA Today Poll, Washington State Department of Health, Washington State Uniform Crime Report.

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Contents on this page were published in the December/Jan, 1994 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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