Saturday, September 3, 2022

Gun Death Rates in the Far Western U.S.

In 2020, gun-related deaths, from homicides, suicides, accidents, and other firearm incidents, totaled over 45,200 in the United States. This figure was up nearly 13.9% from the prior year. The U.S. gun death rate was 13.7 deaths per 100,000 population in 2020.  The six-state Far Western U.S. recorded 5,677 gun-related deaths in 2020, or about 10.0 gun deaths per 100,000 population. As such, in 2020 the region's gun death rate was 27% lower than the national average.  This favorable comparison to the national average was due mainly to low gun death rates in California, Hawaii, and Washington, three states which have more restrictive gun control laws.  Further examination of 2020 data from the National Center for Health Statistics provides the following details about gun death rates in the Far Western U.S.:

Gun Death Rates in the Far Western U.S.

Gun Death Rates in the Far Western U.S.

State Deaths Population Death Rate*
Alaska 175 731,158 23.9
California 3,449 39,368,078 8.8
Hawaii 50 1,407,006 3.6
Nevada 547 3,138,259 17.4
Oregon 592 4,241,507 14.0
Washington 864 7,693,612 11.2
     Region 5,677 56,579,620 10.0
U.S. Totals 45,222 329,484,123 13.7

(*) number of gun deaths per 100,000 population

Report Period: 2020

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2020 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2021. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2020, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on August 31, 2022

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