Firearms Deaths in the Great Plains Region

In 2019 there were more than 39,700 firearm deaths in the United States. That was about 12.1 deaths caused by firearms per 100,000 population.  Nationally, the number of firearms-caused deaths per 100,000 population increased approximately 17% from 1999 to 2019.  The experience in the seven-state Great Plains region was even worse, as the region saw its firearms-caused death rate jump nearly 45% from its 1999 level, to 13.2 deaths per 100,000 population in 2019.  In fact, every state in the region experienced a bigger increase in its firearms death rate between 1999 and 2019 than did the U.S. as a whole.  A closer examination of data from the National Center for Health Statistics reveals the following about the trend in firearm deaths in the Great Plains region:

Firearms Deaths in the Great Plains Region

Area/Deaths	1999	2009	2019
IA	202	193	294
KS	269	303	403
MN	296	336	465
MO	711	822	1,252
NE	146	132	205
ND	49	59	93
SD	73	75	113
Region	1,746	1,920	2,825
U.S.	28,874	31,347	39,707
Area/Death Rate*	1999	2009	2019
IA	6.9	6.4	9.3
KS	10.0	10.7	13.8
MN	6.1	6.4	8.2
MO	12.8	13.8	20.4
NE	8.6	7.3	10.6
ND	7.6	8.9	12.2
SD	9.7	9.3	12.8
Region	9.1	9.4	13.2
U.S.	10.3	10.2	12.1

(*) number of firearm-caused deaths per 100,000 population; death count includes both intentional and unintentional fatalities caused by a firearm

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2019 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2020. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2019, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on June 2, 2021