• Firearm homicide and assault cost federal, state and local governments a total of $4.7 billion annually, including costs for medical care, mental health, emergency transport, police, criminal justice, and lost taxes (Public Services Research Institute, 2008).
• Medical care for firearm homicides and assaults costs the government $154 million a year (Public Services Research Institute, 2008).
• Fifty-five percent of lifetime medical costs for gun assaults are paid with taxpayer money.  Twenty percent are paid by private insurance, and 20 percent are paid out-of-pocket (Cook et al., 1999, p. 452).
• The lifetime medical treatment cost for gun suicide attempts and deaths that occur in one year is $116 million dollars (Cook and Ludwig, 2000, p.178). 
• The lifetime medical treatment costs for unintentional gun injuries and deaths that occur in one year is $309 million dollars (Cook and Ludwig, 2000, p. 178).

• Exposure to violence can cause intrusive thoughts and sleep disturbances, emotional withdrawal, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Garbarino, p. 75).  
• Children injured in gun violence, those who witness violent acts at close proximity, those exposed to high levels of violence in their communities or schools, and those exposed to violent media have a higher likelihood of problems (Garbarino, p. 73).
• Rural youth exposed to gun violence report significantly more anger, dissociation, post-traumatic stress, and total trauma (Slovak, p. 389).
• Community violence, including gun violence, has the equivalent emotional impact on children as war or natural disaster (Fowler, p. 227).

DID YOU KNOW? Gun violence degrades the quality of life in the U. S.

• The U. S. consistently ranks lower than other developed countries in life expectancy — a widely accepted measure of a society’s quality of life.  The disproportionate number of firearm deaths in the U. S. accounts for almost a third (27 percent) of this life expectancy gap (Lemaire, p. 365). 
  

SOLUTION:  We make it too easy for dangerous people to obtain dangerous weapons.  There are only a few gun control laws on the books, and even those have loopholes.  We should make it harder for convicted felons, the dangerously mentally ill, and youth to get the guns in the first place. We can do this by passing effective laws that make sense.

Sources

Cook, Philip J., Bruce A. Lawrence, Jens Ludwig, Ted R. Miller, ”The Medical Costs of Gunshot Injuries in the United States,” JAMA (1999) 281 (5): 447-54

Cook, Philip J, and Jens Ludwig, Gun Violence: The Real Costs, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000 (based on gun deaths and injuries in 1997)

Fowler, Patrick J., et al, “Community Violence: A Meta-Analysis on the Effect of Exposure and Mental Health Outcomes of Children and Adolescents,” Development and Psychopathology 21 (2009):227-259

Garbarino, James, Catherine P. Bradshaw, and Joseph A. Vorrasi, “Mitigating the Effects of Gun Violence on Children and Youth,” in The Future of Children: Children, Youth, and Gun Violence, available at: http://www.futureofchildren.org/information2826/information_show.htm?doc_id=154456

Lemaire, Jean, “The Cost of Firearm Deaths in the United States: Reduced Life Expectancies and Increased Insurance Costs,” The Journal of Risk and Insurance, (2005) 72 (3), 359-374; see also Richmond, Therese, Jean Lemaire, Years of Life Lost Because of Gunshot Injury to the Brain and Spinal Cord,” American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (2008) 87(8): 609-618

Public Services Research Institute, National Crime Firearm Violence Costs and Costs for Illinois, Oregon, Utah, and California (Year 2005 Dollars), Calverton, MD: Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 2008, personal communication on file with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence

Slovak, Karen and Mark Singer, “Gun Violence Exposure and Trauma Among Rural Youth,” Violence and Victims, 16(4) (2001): 389-400