GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION

Children in the U.S. die from gun violence at a higher rate than the rest of the industrialized world combined.

“Women United For” works to promote women leaders and their solutions for reducing gun violence.

The “Gun Violence Prevention” campaign provides information and support for women across the country who are advocating for common-sense steps to give every child a safe and healthy environment in which to learn and play.

FACTS ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE

MORE FACTS ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE

Children Are Dying from Gun Violence at an Alarming Rate

• In 2008, 2,947 children and teens died from guns in the United States and 2,793 died in 2009 for a total of 5,740.
• That means one child or teen dies every three hours, eight every day, 55 every week for two years.
• The leading cause of death among Black teens ages 15 to 19 in 2008 and 2009 was gun homicide.
• Gun violence is the second leading cause of death among white teens after motor vehicle accidents.

In the United States, Children Are Much More Likely to Die as a Result of Gun Violence Than Anywhere Else in the World

• The gun homicide rate in the United States for teens and young adults ages 15 to 24 was 42.7 times higher than the combined rate for the other nations.
• The most recent analysis of data among 23 industrialized nations shows that 87 percent of children under age 15 killed by guns lived in the United States.

Many Children Have Guns Readily Accessible in the Home

• The U.S. has an estimated 283 million guns in civilian hands.[i]
• Each year, about 4 to 7 million new firearms are manufactured for sale in the United States.[ii]
• 1/3 of all households with children younger than eighteen have a gun.
• More than 40 percent of gun-owning households with children store their guns unlocked.
• 22% percent of children with gun-owning parents handled guns in their homes without their parents’ knowledge.
• More than ½ of youth who committed suicide with a gun obtained the gun from their home, usually a parent’s gun.

Firearms Are the Leading Cause of Death Among Women Killed in Domestic Disputes

• 50 percent of women killed in domestic violence are as a result of firearms.
• Access to firearms yields a more than five-fold increase in risk of intimate partner homicide.
• Abusers who possess guns tend to inflict the most severe abuse on their partners.

Hundreds of Thousands of Guns Are Sold Annually Without Criminal Background Checks

• An estimated 2 million secondhand firearms are sold each year.[iii]
•  Nearly 40 percent of all gun sales are made by private sellers who are exempt from criminal background checks according to the White House.

[i] Hepburn, L., Miller, M., Hemenway, D., “The U. S. Gun Stock: Results from the 2004 National Firearms Survey,” Injury Prevention 13 (2007): 15-19. The number of guns in the home is estimated via telephone survey research. We don't register guns in the United States, so it is not possible to know for sure how many guns exist.

[ii] Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Firearms Commerce in the United States, Annual Statistical Update, 2012, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, BATFE, 2012. Calculations by Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 11/21/2012

[iii] Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, Commerce in Firearms in the United States, Washington, DC: Department of the Treasury, February 2000, and Gordon Hawkins, Crime is not the Problem: Lethal Violence in America, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997

STAND UP

What Can You Do? Plenty!

• Stay informed.

• Sign up to stay connected.

• Make your voice heard.

• Organize your neighbors.

• Raise the issue on talk radio.

• Lobby your legislators for common-sense policies to reduce gun violence.

• Attend a community meeting.

• Write a letter to the editor.

And then send us an email to tell us what you did!

RESOURCES 

Gun Policy Research & Statistics

• Harvard Injury Control Research Center:
  http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/
• Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy Research:
  http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy-and-research/index.html
• Mayors Against Illegal Guns:
  http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/research/research.shtml
• Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence:
  http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-law-%20statistics-and-research/
• Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence:
  http://www.bradycampaign.org/facts/studies
• Violence Policy Center Research on Assault Weapons & High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines:
  http://www.vpc.org/studyndx.htm

Public Opinion

• Mayors Against Illegal Guns:
  http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/public_opinion/public_opinion.shtml
• Pew:
  http://www.people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/01-14-13%20Gun%20Policy%20Release.pdf
• ABC/Washington Post:
  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/01/on-eve-of-newtown-recommendations-most-back-new-gun-control-measures/
• CNN/Time:
  http://swampland.time.com/2013/01/16/new-timecnn-poll-white-house-gun-agenda-faces-conflicted-public/
• NBC/WSJ:
  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323783704578248201655559948.html

About the Second Amendment

• Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence:
  http://smartgunlaws.org/the-second- amendment/
• Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence:
  http://www.bradycenter.org/legalaction/secondamendment

State Gun Laws

• Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence:
  http://smartgunlaws.org/search-gun-law- by-state/

President Obama’s Plan to Reduce Gun Violence

• http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/wh_now_is_the_time_full.pdf

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Policy Recommendations

• http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/media-center/letter_121912.shtml

Children’s Defense Fund Policy Agenda

• http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/state-data-repository/safe-start-pillar.pdf