More people in the United States die by firearms than in any other high-income country, according to a new report from the Yale School of Public Health.
“In the U.S., firearm fatalities are almost 10 times that of Canada, and much higher than [in] countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden or France,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency room physician and dean of the Yale School of Public Health.
“This isn’t because Americans are bad or wrong or sick,” said Ranney, who co-authored the report, which was published by the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Research and Action Institute.
“There's something different to explain it, and it may be access to these methods in moments of desperation or hopelessness,” she said.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Black, white and Hispanic populations would all see large increases in life expectancy if alcohol, drug and firearm fatalities are reduced in the United States, according to the report.
In addition to legislative fixes, proposed solutions from the report’s authors include investing in green spaces and creating better access to mental health treatment.
In 2022, there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the U.S. and more than half of those deaths were recorded as suicides, according to a forthcoming analysis by the Research and Action Institute, a think tank of the Association of American Medical Colleges. That same year there were also nearly 108,000 drug-related deaths and more than 51,000 alcohol-induced deaths.
Even though these numbers made up a small fraction of the nearly 3.3 million U.S. deaths in 2022, they disproportionately affected children and younger adults — and, as a result, lowered the U.S. life expectancy at birth, according to the Yale study.
“If these deaths were eliminated (and other causes of death remained the same), life expectancy at birth would increase by 1.6 years,” the authors wrote.
Across all ages, guns are ‘primary means’ of lethal violence and suicide
Corporations and financial institutions are untapped resources in gun violence prevention efforts, according to a new report from the policy nonprofit group Milken Institute, “Activating Capital: Strategies to Advance Gun Violence Prevention in the U.S.”
The report estimated that gun violence costs the U.S. economy $557 billion each year, yet only 1% of total philanthropic funding in the U.S. supports crime- and violence prevention-related endeavors.
Earlier this year, the U.S. surgeon general declared gun violence a public health crisis.
“Guns are the primary means of lethal violence and suicide across all ages in our country,” said Dr. Laine Taylor, chief medical officer at The Village for Families & Children. “In Connecticut, our gun laws and preventative firearm safety education has meant that is not the case for our youth.”
But The Village continues to treat youth who are exposed to gun violence — or the threat of it — at schools and communities, Taylor said.
“This causes insidious trauma reactions as well as normalization of gun ubiquity in their developing minds,” she said. “Connecticut youth are not shielded from learning about shootings in the country or in their neighborhood. Many of our children contend with the mortality of their family members due to gun violence, while also wondering about their own when they walk down the block or go to school.”
Consequently, children and youth suffer from a spectrum of behaviors ranging from avoidance and anxiety to anger and aggression, and “all of this is 100% preventable,” Taylor said.
Learn more
Where We Live: “From Trump's rally to Hartford's Asylum Hill, tackling gun violence as a public health crisis”
Sandy Hook group navigates divisive politics to expand school gun violence prevention program
‘What if I got shot?’ At Hartford roundtable, students share concerns about safety and mental health
