Mapping The Burden Of Gun Violence

More than 3,000 researchers from 130 different countries came together to create one of the world’s first studies on global firearm deaths.

The study, titled “Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study (GBD),” found that of the 251,000 gun deaths reported worldwide, more than half occurred in just two nations: the U.S. and Brazil.

The GBD is one of the first to track such statistics. One reason for this is that in the U.S., it’s nearly impossible to investigate or tally gun deaths, thanks to an amendment that forbids congress from funding research on gun control.

Though there are different variables in each country – like the amendment mentioned above, varying populations, socioeconomics, etc.– researchers were able to standardize data, and paint a picture of what gun violence rates look like worldwide.

A series of maps shows that regions like Asia and Europe are “devoid” of gun deaths, the article adds, “whereas the Americas run much more violent.”

Researchers distinguished between suicide and homicide rates. They found that the U.S. “dwarfs most other countries when it comes to suicide by firearm.” In fact, two-thirds of gun deaths here are suicides.

Historical data tells us that limiting exposure to things that can kills us could prevent many attempts at suicides. For example, building barriers on bridges significantly curbed deaths from jumping; the switch from coal to natural gas stopped many from trying to kill themselves by inhaling lethal fumes; and rates of suicide among Israeli soldiers dropped 40 percent when they were disallowed from taking their weapons home over the weekend.

These examples show that simple changes in policy have dramatic effects on suicide rates. This is why, the author said, “it’s important that we understand and study gun deaths. We have to understand the problem if we’re going to figure out solutions […].”