More Americans are now killed by GUNS than car crashes as shootings become country’s leading cause of death by trauma for the first time
- Surgeons at Westchester Medical Center in New York state released research suggested that more than 1.4 million years of potential life are lost every year to gun crime
- Car crashes were the greatest cause of death until deaths from guns skyrocketed between 2009 and 2018
- The report, published in medical journal Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open, found gun deaths rose on average by 0.72 per cent every year
- Conversely, road accidents fell by 0.07 per cent each year that decade
- Suicides using guns rose from 18,735 in 2009 to an astonishing 24,432 in 2018 while gun murders rose from 11,493 to 13,958
Gunshots are now the leading cause of death by trauma in the US and have overtaken car crashes for the first time in history, according to a new report.
Surgeons at Westchester Medical Center in New York state released research suggested that more than 1.4 million years of potential life are lost every year to gun crime.
Car crashes were the greatest cause of death until deaths from guns skyrocketed between 2009 and 2018.
The report, published in medical journal Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open, found gun deaths rose on average by 0.72 per cent every year, culminating in 38,929 deaths in 2018.
Surgeons at Westchester Medical Center in New York state released research suggested that more than 1.4 million years of potential life are lost every year to gun crime
Conversely, road accidents fell by 0.07 per cent each year that decade.
Suicides using guns rose from 18,735 in 2009 to an astonishing 24,432 in 2018 while gun murders rose from 11,493 to 13,958.
The eye-opening study found suicide of white men accounted for 49 per cent of the total gun deaths and murders of black men made up 18 per cent, according to the report seen by The Times.
And gun sales in the US have stayed high with just under 19million sold in 2021 – the second-highest total over the past 20 years, according to SafeHome research seen by Fox.
And gun sales in the US have stayed high with just under 19 million sold in 2021 – the second-highest total over the past 20 years
Even though firearm sales fell 13 per cent from 2020, they are still 40 per cent higher than in 2019.
SafeHome said: ‘On an overall and population-adjusted basis, more people are buying guns in almost every state.’
The senior editor of the organization, Corie Colliton, said that just eight states had no firearms-related incidents in a school in 2021.
CEO of Global Security Group, Dave Katz, said that concerns from suburban residents living near areas with rioting last summer may have led to them buying guns for the first time.
Even though firearm sales fell 13 per cent from 2020, they are still 40 per cent higher than in 2019
Gun deaths were highest in the south of the US. And in 2018 more than three million registered firearms were recorded in the south, with Texas and Florida having the most.
The official number of guns in circulation is based on those bought legally but the true number is believed to be much higher.
A sudden spike in gun ownership has also been attributed to the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency where unrest rocked the country – 23 million Americans bought a gun in 2020 which was an annual rise of 64 per cent.
