People thinking of buying a gun often are surprised that there is not more information easily available about the risks—to the owner, their loved ones, and society at large—associated with gun ownership.
At Colorado Ceasefire, we believe that prospective gun owners should be informed about the risks associated with firearms. Doing so allows buyers to make educated decisions, and is a meaningful step towards preventing gun violence. It’s worth noting that guns are the only consumer good that is exempt from consumer warnings or minimum safety standards.
Some Facts and Figures
If the gun industry were required to make consumer saftey disclosures, they would probably include the following:
- Access to a gun increases the risk of death by suicide by three times. 94% of gun suicide attempts result in death.
- Guns should be kept locked up. More than 100 children and teens die by unintentional gunshots every year.
- The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that the victim will be killed.
- Keeping a gun ‘ready’ for home defense is dangerous: Households that lock both guns and ammunition are associated with a 78% risk reduction for self-inflicted gun injury among children compared to those that locked neither.
- And households that lock both guns and ammunition are associated with an 85% risk reduction for unintentional gun injury among children compared to those that locked neither.
Finally, around 380,000 guns are stolen in the U.S. each year. Those guns are nine times more likely to be used in crimes than guns that aren’t stolen.
Concealed Carry?
If you’re thinking about purchasing a gun for concealed carry, the news is even worse.
The Violence Policy Center maintains a resource documenting hundreds of fatal incidents since May 2007 involving concealed handgun permit holders that were not ruled as self-defense. These incidents include homicides, suicides, mass shootings, and unintentional deaths.
- As of a recent update, the database documented over 2,500 such incidents resulting in more than 2,800 deaths.
- Justifiable homicides by private citizens with firearms are extremely rare compared to criminal firearm homicides. A 2023 VPC study, using FBI data from 2019, found 316 justifiable homicides involving a private citizen with a firearm, compared to 9,610 criminal firearm homicides that same year.
- Academic studies, including one by Stanford University in 2017, conclude that concealed carry is linked to increases in violent crime, not decreases. Other research has shown that states with relaxed concealed carry laws have seen significant increases in firearm assaults.
- Carrying concealed, loaded guns in public can escalate everyday conflicts into deadly confrontations.
VPC’s data indicates that law enforcement officers are put at risk by concealed carriers, with 24 officers killed in documented incidents involving concealed permit holders.
Believe It or Not, We Are Safer than We’ve Been in Decades
If you are considering a gun for self defense—because you think society is getting more dangerous—it’s worth remembering that overall, violent crime in the US is down, with a 4.5% decrease in 2024 compared to 2023, according to the FBI. Specific categories like murder (down 14.9%), robbery (down 8.9%), rape (down 5.2%), and aggravated assault (down 3%) all saw decreases in 2024, continuing a downward trend since a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In fact, except for that spike during COVID, Americans are safer than they have been in decades: FBI data shows the violent crime rate fell 49% between 1993 and 2022, with large decreases in the rates of robbery (-74%), aggravated assault (-39%) and murder/nonnegligent manslaughter (-34%). It’s not possible to calculate the change in the rape rate during this period because the FBI revised its definition of the offense in 2013. And it’s not all those guns making us safer, either. In fact, research shows more guns means more violent crimes.
Make Your Choice an Informed One
Despite the statistics cited above, we understand many Americans feel safer when they own a gun, and appreciate that everyone’s individual circumstances are different. We believe it is important to empower prospective gun owners with these facts to ensure they are making the best choice for themselves and their loved ones. Only a thoughtful, realistic examination of your own circumstances can tell you whether the purported benefits of owning a gun outweigh the risks for you.