As Gun Homicides Continue to Decline, Gun Suicides Reached Record High in 2023

More people in the United States died by gun suicide in 2023 than any year on record — more than by gun homicide, accidental shootings and police shootings combined.

A new report analyzing federal mortality data found that suicides involving firearms made up 58% of all gun deaths in 2023 — the latest year with available data. In total, 27,300 people died by gun suicide in 2023, according to the report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions and the Johns Hopkins Center for Suicide Prevention.

The findings are based on finalized data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In all, 46,728 people died from gun-related injuries in 2023, according to the CDC’s Wonder database.

Gun homicides fell for the second year in a row, dropping from 20,958 in 2021 to 19,651 in 2022 and 17,927 in 2023. Despite the decline, the 2023 total ranks as the fifth highest on record for gun homicides, according to the report.

Rural, less populated states recorded the highest gun suicide rates in 2023. Wyoming led the nation with about 19.9 gun suicide deaths per 100,000 residents — nearly 10 times the rate of Massachusetts, which had the lowest at about 2.1 per 100,000.

“People are just using guns when it comes to considering suicide because it’s highly lethal and it’s easily accessible,” said Rose Kim, the lead author of the report and the assistant policy adviser at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. “That’s really a deadly combination, and it’s really driving the suicide epidemic in our country.”

Suicide has remained the leading category of gun death in the U.S. for nearly three decades, according to the report. That trend has continued even as public attention and legislative action have largely focused on gun homicides and mass shootings.

More than a handful of both Republican-led and Democratic-led states have passed or enacted new gun policies this year, ranging from permitless carry in North Carolina and a statewide ban on “red flag” or extreme risk protective orders in Texas to bans on assault-style weapons in Rhode Island to rapid-fire devices in Oregon.

This week, the Michigan Senate approved legislation that would ban bump stocks and ghost guns. In Washington state, a new law set to take effect in May 2027 will require prospective gun buyers to obtain a five-year permit through the Washington State Patrol.

Alabama Republican Gov. Kay Ivey in March signed into law a bill that made Alabama the 26th state to outlaw gun conversion devices, also known as auto sears, which can turn semiautomatic firearms into fully automatic weapons. In April, she signed into law a measure that allows people experiencing suicidal thoughts to surrender a firearm to a licensed gun dealer.

Kim said some state policies can help reduce gun deaths, such as safe storage laws, firearm purchaser licensing and extreme risk protection orders. “I​​t’s also important to recognize that there are public health interventions, evidence based, that can really address gun suicides and save lives,” she said in an interview.

Men were nearly seven times more likely than women to die by gun suicide in 2023, according to the Johns Hopkins report. The highest rate of firearm suicide was among men 70 and older.

For the fourth consecutive year, firearms remained the leading cause of death among youth under 17 in 2023, with 2,581 deaths recorded.

Among young people aged 10 to 19, gun suicide totals remained relatively unchanged year over year — 1,252 in 2023 compared with 1,238 in 2022 — but racial and ethnic breakdowns showed stark disparities.

Since 2014, the gun suicide rate for Black youth 10 to 19 had more than tripled, rising from 1 death per 100,000 people to 3.3 in 2023. In contrast, the rate for white youth in the same age group increased more gradually, from 2.6 to 3 per 100,000 people. It was the second consecutive year that Black youth had a higher rate than their white peers.

Gun suicides among Hispanic youth 10 to 19 also nearly doubled from 2014 to 2023, according to the CDC’s data.

–Armanda Hernandez, Stateline

Stateline reporter Amanda Hernández can be reached at [email protected].