Gun violence, by the numbers

These stats tell you everything you need to know about our nationwide epidemic -- and my personal trauma

Published December 23, 2012 2:30PM (EST)

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This article originally appeared on The Weeklings.

The Weeklings

 

10 Minutes – Length of time Adam Lanza was shooting

90 (more than) – Number of bullets shot

38 – Number of mass shootings in 2012

$50,000 – Average cost of medical treatment per homicide shooting victim

$2.3 Billion – Total lifetime medical costs for gunshot injuries (as of 1999)

$6 Million – Those medical costs per day

49 Percent – Amount of those lifetime medical costs paid by taxpayers

20 Percent – Number of gun owners with 65 percent of the firearms in the U.S.

36,000 – Number of guns thrown away each year

16,808,538 – Number of applications to purchase guns in the U.S. from January – November 2012 from legal dealers (does not include gun shows or private sales)

5X – Amount this could arm every NATO member state’s armed forces

88.8 – Number of firearms per 100 people in the U.S.

80 – Percentage of firearms deaths in the 23 wealthiest countries in the world that are in the U.S.

86 – Percentage of firearms deaths in the 23 wealthiest countries that are U.S. women

87 – Percentage of firearms deaths in the 23 wealthiest countries that are U.S. children under the age of 14

1 Percent – Number of gun dealers that account for almost 60 percent of guns used in crimes and recovered by police

30,000 – Average number of guns lost annually by gun dealers

22X – Likelihood a gun in the home will be used for a suicide than for self defense

7X – Chance a gun in the home will be used in a criminal assault rather than self-defense

200 – Number of annual legally justified self-defense homicides

90 Percent – Number of successful suicide attempts with a gun

3 Percent – Number of successful suicide attempts with drugs or knives

44,500 – Number of annual gun injuries from assaults treated in emergency rooms

94 – Percentage of police chiefs who favor requiring criminal background checks for all handgun sales

87 – Percentage of non-NRA gun owners supporting background checks of gun purchasers

4,100 – Average number of women killed annually with guns

4.6 – Percentage increase in suicide risk for women in a house with a gun

3.4 Percent – Amount the homicide risk increases for women

$0.2998 – Cost of a 9mm pistol cartridge at Cabela’s per bullet (sold in a box of 50)

314,968,962 – Population of the U.S.

310,000,000 – Number of non military guns in the U.S.

67 – Percentage of gun owners who claim gun ownership for self-protection

58 – Percentage who have a gun for hunting

60 Million – Number of guns in Yemen, the country with the next highest gun ownership rate behind the U.S.

2004 – Year the law banning magazines with more than 10 rounds expired

2008 – Year legislation passed to prevent sales of guns to the mentally ill

26 – Percentage of Americans wanting a handgun ban in 2011 according to Gallup

60 – Percentage supporting a ban in 1959

70 – Percentage of Florida defendants invoking “stand your ground” who go free

73  – Percentage of Florida “stand your ground” defendants killing a black person to go free

59 – Percentage of Florida “stand your ground” defendants killing a white person to go free

23 – Number of states where people who have lost their rights to firearms for mental health reasons can petition to reinstate them

1 – Number of members of my family killed at point blank range

2  – Number of his adult children who witnessed the shooting

4 – Number of semiautomatic handguns used in his murder

5 Years and 8 Months – Length of time from his death until I called it “gun violence”

2 – Days ago I started to use that term

4 – Number of guns I have fired this year


By Jennifer Kabat

MORE FROM Jennifer Kabat


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Adam Lanza Gun Violence Newtown Sandy Hook Elementary School Sandy Hook Shootings The Weeklings Yemen