Thursday, December 31, 2015

2015 – The Year in Guns

By the Numbers
By Samuel Warde


 As 2015 draws to a close the startling numbers of victims of gun violence for 2015 are becoming known.

Below are some numbers, consolidated by The Gun Violence Archive, “an online archive of gun violence incidents collected from over 1,200 media, government and commercial sources daily in an effort to provide near real-time data about the results of gun violence,” 

The Guardian who maintains an interactive online database of people killed by the police in the United States called “The Counted,” and Gawker who compiled their own list of gun violence for the year.

The Year in Guns
  • Total Number of Incidents 51,565
  • Number of Deaths1 13,107
  • Number of Injuries1 26,431
  • Number of Children (age 0-11) Killed/Injured1 678
  • Number of Teens (age 12-17) Killed/Injured1 2,626
  • Mass Shootings2,3  353
  • Home Invasions2 2,266
  • Defensive Use2 1,234
  • Accidental Shootings2 1,877
  • Percent of gun owners who own 10 or more guns. 25 percent own five or more guns (The Trace) 8

The Year in Guns in Law Enforcement
The-Year-in-Guns
  • Officer Involved Incidents2 4,292
  • Number of People Killed by the Police4 1,124
  • Number of times more likely a black man is to be shot by police than a white man (Washington Post) 7
  • Number of police officers who have been charged in the shooting deaths of unarmed black men (Washington Post) 3
  • Number of times more likely law enforcement officers are to be killed in states with high firearm ownership compared to states with low firearm ownership (American Journal of Public Health) 3
  • Estimated annual cost of gun violence to the American economy (Mother Jones) $229 billion
  • Amount given to those politicians by the NRA, who also gave all 36 an “A” rating (Forbes/NRA) $2.3 million

The Year In Gun Violence – Costs And Politics
  • Estimated annual cost of gun violence to the American economy (Mother Jones) $229 billion
  • Amount given to those politicians by the NRA, who also gave all 36 an “A” rating (Forbes/NRA) $2.3 million

FOOTNOTE 1: Actual number of deaths and injuries
FOOTNOTE 2: Number of INCIDENTS reported and verified
FOOTNOTE 3: As defined by the Mass Shooting Tracker as four or more people shot in one event.
FOOTNOTE 4: From The Guardian‘s “The Counted.“


Samuel Warde is a writer, social and political activist, and all-around troublemaker.
at