Firearm suicide rates
Firearm suicides have increased since 1999. Firearm suicide rates are highest for white and American Indian/Alaska Native individuals.
Firearm suicide rates and number of firearm suicides, U.S.
Rates are age-adjusted per 100,000 population, by race/ethnicity
Source: CDC/ Wonder mortality data. Notes: Race groups are non-Hispanic. “Other firearm deaths” include accidental firearm discharge; undetermined intent firearm discharge; and legal intervention involving firearm discharge.
Suicides make up the majority of gun deaths each year but receive the least news coverage. Firearm suicides accounted for 24,292 deaths in 2020 compared to 19,384 firearm homicides and 1,546 other firearm deaths. The number of firearm suicides increased from 23,941 in 2019 to 24,292 in 2020, and then to 26,316 based on 2021 provisional data.
Firearm suicide rates vary by race and are typically highest among white Americans at rates averaging 7.8 per 100,000 from 2000 to 2019. Gun suicides were next most common among American Indians and Alaska Natives who experienced rates averaging 6.5 per 100,000 from 2000 to 2019. In 2020, gun suicides among American Indians and Alaska Natives exceeded that of white Americans, rising to 9.5 per 100,000 compared to 8.9 per 100,000. Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans consistently experienced lower firearm suicide rates. In 2020, firearm suicide rates for Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans were 4.2, 2.9, and 1.7 per 100,000 respectively.
Red flag laws allow law enforcement officers or individuals to petition local courts to temporarily take guns away from those who are a threat to themselves or others. While 62% of U.S. counties have declared themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries,” law enforcement officers in many of these same counties have subsequently used red flag laws. Studies of red flag laws conclude they measurably reduce gun suicides and homicides.1,2,3
“Sheriffs who denounced red flag law now using it”. Hawryluk. Louisiana Illuminator. July, 2022. https://lailluminator.com/2022/07/05/sheriffs-who-denounced-red-flag-law-now-using-it/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=b07d0829-701a-4f85-a7fb-b4ed91ad5ee6
“Effects of Risk-Based Firearm Seizure Laws in Connecticut and Indiana on Suicide Rates, 1981-2015”. Kivisto, Phalen. Psychiatry Online. June, 2018. https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201700250
“Criminal Justice and Suicide Outcomes with Indiana’s Risk-Based Gun Seizure Law”. Swanson, Easter, Alanis-Hirsch, Belden, Norko, Robertson, Frisman, Lin, Swartz, and Parker. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. June, 2022. http://jaapl.org/content/early/2019/04/15/JAAPL.003835-19
