Gun Violence by the Numbers in 2024
By: Chip Brownlee (The Trace)
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S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Gun Violence by the Numbers in 2024
As firearm sales have fallen, so have deaths and mass shootings. Trace reporter Chip Brownlee breaks down this year's gun violence trends.
Gun violence in the United States continued to decline significantly in 2024, providing yet another signal that the pandemic-era surge has come to an end. Firearm deaths and injuries dropped for a third straight year. Homicides in major cities, mass shootings, and child and teen gun deaths also fell.
Yet the toll of gun violence remains. Even as shootings decline, tens of thousands of lives continue to be lost or permanently changed by guns.
Data helps provide a clearer picture of gun violence trends, informing prevention efforts and highlighting both the progress made and the challenges that remain.
Below, we examine 13 statistics that help shed light on America's gun violence epidemic.
16,576
The number of firearm deaths, excluding suicides, in 2024
Gun deaths decreased for a third consecutive year, dropping 12 percent from 2023's total of nearly 19,000. While still slightly above pre-pandemic levels, gun deaths this year were 21 percent lower than the pandemic-era peak of more than 21,000 in 2021. These figures, compiled by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, include murders, accidental shootings, and homicides deemed legally justified. GVA does not track suicides, which account for more than half of all gun deaths. [Gun Violence Archive]
-14 percent
The decrease in firearm injuries in 2024
Firearm injuries fell to 31,409 in 2024 — down nearly 14 percent from 2023, when there were 36,338. Tracking gun injuries is challenging. The Gun Violence Archive attempts it by monitoring media reports, which may not capture all incidents. Still, the data suggests a significant overall decline in firearm injuries. [Gun Violence Archive]
5,151
The number of children and teenagers shot in 2024
Firearms are one of the leading causes of death for young people. This year, the number of children and teenagers killed or wounded in shootings plummeted nearly 17 percent compared to 2023. Of the 5,151 children and teenagers under 18 who were shot this year, 1,403 died. [Gun Violence Archive]
-24 percent
The decrease in mass shootings in 2024
2023 endured the second-highest number of mass shootings on record, but this year, the number fell significantly. There were 499 mass shootings in 2024. That is 24 percent less than in 2023. Still, this year's mass shootings — defined as incidents in which at least four people were shot, excluding the shooter — killed 507 people and injured at least 2,169 others. [Gun Violence Archive]
At least 30
The number of transgender and gender nonconforming people killed in 2024
This total is an undercount. Deaths of transgender and gender nonconforming people often go unreported or misreported because the victims may be misgendered or deadnamed by law enforcement, media reports, or next of kin. Of the victims identified by the Human Rights Campaign, at least 60 percent were killed with guns. More than 75 percent of the victims were people of color. In 2023, at least 32 transgender and gender nonconforming people were killed. [Human Rights Campaign]
1,133
The number of civilians shot and killed by police in 2024
This marks a slight decrease from 2023, when police killed 1,164 people — the highest number on record. The number of people fatally shot by police in the United States has remained relatively stable at around 1,000 annually, though the total has risen slightly in recent years and has exceeded 1,000 every year since 2020. Black Americans are killed at more than twice the rate of any other racial or ethnic group. [The Washington Post]
13.6 million
The number of guns Americans bought in 2024
It was the fourth yearly decline since 2020, when gun sales hit record highs amid concerns over COVID-19, protests against racial injustice, other social unrest, and the 2020 presidential election. Gun sales typically spike around presidential elections and major social events, yet gun sales actually fell from 1.36 million in November 2023 to 1.28 million in November 2024. [The Trace]
More than 1,600
The number of federal district and appellate court decisions that have cited the Supreme Court's Bruen decision since 2022
In 2022, the Supreme Court expanded gun rights in a decision called New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn. v. Bruen , laying out a new test for lower courts to use in evaluating the constitutionality of gun restrictions. It placed dozens of local, state, and federal gun laws under threat. Over the past year, The Trace has compiled data on more than 1,600 challenges to gun laws since Bruen was handed down. [The Trace]
8 to 1
The vote of the U.S. Supreme Court in Rahimi , upholding domestic violence gun restrictions
The court's 8-1 decision in United States v. Rahimi, the first significant Second Amendment decision from the Supreme Court since Bruen , upheld a federal law that prohibits domestic abusers from possessing guns while under a restraining order. It put to rest a constitutional challenge that threatened to invalidate a key protection for domestic violence victims. All but one of the court's justices joined to uphold the law, reversing a lower court decision that relied on Bruen to strike down the provision. [The Trace]
At least $137 million
The amount of federal funding spent on gun violence research since 2020
Federal funding for gun violence research has grown significantly in recent years, with at least $137 million allocated across 127 research projects since 2020. This marks a substantial increase compared to the preceding five years, which saw just $24.5 million spent. Annual spending averaged less than $500,000 from 2005 to 2015. Most funding comes from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. [The Trace]
6
The number of states that passed laws this year banning all or some firearms at polling places
California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Mexico passed laws to restrict guns at polling sites before the election this year. Michigan was the latest state to ban guns at polling places, ballot boxes, and vote counting sites, but the legislation was not in effect before the 2024 election. Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed that legislation into law on December 3, bringing the total number of states with such bans to 24. [The Trace]
-18 percent
The average decrease in homicides across 277 U.S. cities in 2024
Homicides have plummeted at a record pace for the past two years. 2023 concluded with one of the largest national declines in homicide ever recorded, and 2024 is likely to finish with an even larger decrease. Data from 277 cities shows that nearly three in five experienced a year-to-date drop in homicides. More than 70 cities saw homicides fall by 50 percent or more. The vast majority of homicides are committed with guns. [AH Datalytics]
-43 percent and -31 percent
The decline in homicides in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., in 2024
Most major U.S. cities saw homicides decrease in 2024 over last year. Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. — where homicides fell 43 percent and 31 percent, respectively — saw some of the biggest drops. The decline in Philadelphia has brought that city's annual homicide total to its lowest level in a decade.
Chip Brownleetwitteremail Chip is a reporter at The Trace covering federal policy related to violence prevention and firearms. He is also the author of The Trajectory newsletter, which spotlights the people, policies, and programs grappling with America's gun violence crisis.
Before joining The Trace as an investigative fellow in June 2020, Chip worked as a reporter and the editor-in-chief of his collegiate newspaper, The Auburn Plainsman . He also covered the state legislature, governor, courts, and elections for the Alabama Political Reporter. As an undergraduate, Chip studied political science and journalism at Auburn University. He also earned an M.A. with a concentration in politics from the Columbia Journalism School.
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Holy Smoke. Things are looking up. America is almost not starting to have similar gun violence statistics of a third world country.
The Nutters are perfectly fine with American on American gun violence, but if one illegal kills an American with a gun? Well, then there is a problem. It's all about optics with them and at the end of the day? They couldn't care less how many people are killed via gun violence. Classroom full of kids? No problem at all.
I don't think I've ever heard one word of regret for the outrageous statistics from any gun lover on this site, only reasons and justifications.
Thanks President Biden...
Maybe thanks to a lot of people who finally discovered they had a conscience.
Actually the numbers have been steadily going down for the last 30-40 years for those that have been paying attention.
It says more that more people are legally owning firearms, yet those numbers of violence have continued to go down.
My opinion is , don't like guns? Then don't own or buy one. Totally individual choice.
Using your logic, the more people have guns, the better. Some people might think the opposite, people like me.
And yet, reality tells a different story. You just have to honestly comprehend it.
Buzz you are entitled to your opinion , just as I am mine .
I do find it curious that as the number of gun owners have increased , that the instances of gun violence have continued to go down .
i will say though , the last 3 murders in my community this last year were done with blunt objects(1) or knives (2), and that is what concerns me , my immediate community .
I was surprised to see your article excluded suicides , i would have liked to see a differentiation of lawful use of deadly force in provable cases of self defense.
We will just have to agree to disagree on this matter.
Agreed.
I comprehend your opinion quite well, and just as you are entitled to have one, so am I, and I am not yet senile and quite capable of comprehension, and I'm not stuck on stupid.
The most cogent takeaway here that the anti gunners will completely ignore. Look no further than this seed for proof of that.
Record gun ownership and the gun violence numbers are going down?
How can this be?
So then when EVERYONE has a gun, will there not be ANY gun violence?
Ridiculous rhetoric. Get serious Buzz. The fact remains gun ownership in the USA has never been higher in modern times. How do explain gun violence going down?
When you answer my question, I'll answer yours.
Same can be said if only government entities are allowed to have guns , If that happens there would be no gun violence? The resounding answer is no, gun violence would not cease in that case either . If anything it would embolden the people that would criminally use firearms or other means to fill their desires .
Not only is the answer NO , but HELL NO.
Agree!
Can you give me an example of where that happens?
A very large percentage of the world's population doesn't agree.
Just one ? and does it have to be current or can i recall from history ? Uk would be an example of banning guns and making them difficult to acquire even for legal use , knife crimes went through the roof to the point they considered legislating knives and lengths .
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The real point im making is if the populus is disarmed , those people with no intention to break any law , then those who because they are stronger will find a way to do as they please to gain their ends because those they wish to target , have to depend on someone with an authorized gun to come to their rescue . police response isnt near that good , anywhere .
Criminals will always get guns , be it through the black market or making them , Mexico is proof of that and they have some pretty strict gun laws . Funny thing about Mexico is the cartels get their guns mostly out of central America or steal it from the Mexican government that aquires them legally through trade .
If they cant get guns they will just find the next best thing , like a truck , molotov cocktail , home made rockets , anything to get the job done .
Want some more? afghan , pakis, indians vietnamese all had some form of adhoc cottage gun industry where they made their stuff locally and held off the british empire and common wealths , the soviets and the USA, all the while keeping the unarmed populus under control with threats of violence . Usually to the peoples detriment .
Maybe that is because their government has too much control over them and they are not truly free.
when Citizens are armed, they have a good chance of remaining free Citizens, Unarmed they can easily become serfs.
And I don't agree with them and the Second Amendment ensures I can be that way
I can't delete what someone else said and then not delete what you said - sorry. As well, IMO a person has a better chance of protecting themself from a person with a knife than from one with a gun.
Buzz , if historical FACT is offensive due to your living situation , then we are done there is no more discussion to be had if facts are to be censored even with red box rules . have a nice life .
It all depends on the people who live in a nation - not all consider the same things important and cultures and principles differ. In other words, as I've said many times, in different ways and in different languages, "Different strokes for different folks".
Well, twisting a line from a movie - I CAN handle the truth, and most of my life was lived in North America.
I came across this article and found it interesting
2024 Saw Fewest Mass Shootings And Gun Deaths In Five Years
Key Facts
The U.S. recorded 491 mass shootings as of Dec. 18—the lowest number since 2019, which saw 414—marking a 25% decline in mass shootings from last year and a nearly 30% decline from 2021, which saw the most mass shootings in the last decade.
The decrease follows a near-high number in 2023, which saw the second-highest number of mass shootings (656) since Gun Violence Archive began tracking mass shootings—defined as a shooting in which at least four people, not including the shooter, are injured or killed—in 2014.
Some 500 people have been killed in mass shootings this year as of Dec. 18, and another 2,134 people were injured in mass shootings this year, according to a Forbes analysis of Gun Violence Archive’s data.
Those figures also show a decline from recent years: 2023, 2022 and 2021 saw 722 people, 642 people and 668 people die from mass shootings, respectively.
Mark Bryant, executive director of Gun Violence Archive, told Forbes he thinks the decline is, at least in part, because of more and better policing and an influx of money being poured into communities to address gun violence through the 2022 bipartisan gun safety bill , which gave states $750 million to help implement and run crisis intervention programs.
Another article that ignores the obvious.
Gun ownership is up. Gun violence is down.
Sparty
I provided some facts relative to the article, that is all -
Correlation does not mean causation - that is concept tried and proven over and over through the years.
Gun ownership is up you say - ok I will take your word for that, but so what?
Gun violence is down - ok I will take your word for that as well, but it is not down near far enough and the places gun violence is occuring is anathema to our societal values. Kids are supposed to safe in schools, people are supposed to safe walking down the street, people are supposed to be safe at malls, synagogues, churches, concerts etc.
Gun violence may be down, but it is not down far enough.
And people celebrating the New Year in New Orleans are supposed to be safe.
)
001As the violent crime and murder rates continue to drop, Trump is still drop kicking them into play, as his continuous lies about ridiculous crimes committed, just dont pan out when a closer look, or any look for that matter, is taken. Biden didn't do anything all that special that i saw, like stated here and by others, it has been a sliding down trend. And i probably should have left ole Don the Con out of this discussion, butso often this election cycle we heard of astronomical non existent violent crime level elevations, andthis lie is just not based in fact, just like most of the bs that Trumpy spews
From what I saw, most of what Biden TRIED to do was blocked. Although Trump isn't the topic here, I wonder what a survivor of assassination attempts, at least one of which "caught his ear", will do about gun violence.
When it comes to peacetime gun deaths, I will quote the infamous words of Canada's late Prime Minister McKenzie King when asked how many Jewish refugees would he allow to come to Canada at the end of WW2:
"None is too many."
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I have no idea what that has to do with the data I provided, but thanks for sharing
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I didn't mean the words to mean refugees, I applied those words to how I feel about shootings. The statistics you quoted were about shootings.
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Many of us do not want to be defenseless (DELETED FOR CONTEXT)
History is full of examples of what happens when people are disarmed .
(DELETED - RED BOX RULES) NAs in the US the list goes on and on . and usually the subjected groups are treated as subhuman and expendable .
Too many historical examples to willingly go that route.
It seems to be in many people's minds that in order to maintain their "freedom" people need the right to bear arms, yet it my opinion they have actually enslaved themselves to requiring a gun to be free. Okay, as I've said elsewhere, "politics, guns and football". Go to it.
If it's not considered important to follow the RED BOX RULES I think it's time to lock this seed.