Data on Guns - Data on Drugs

What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.

More Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2020 than in any other year on record, according to recently published statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That included a record number of gun murders, as well as a near-record number of gun suicides. Despite the increase in such fatalities, the rate of gun deaths – a statistic that accounts for the nation’s growing population – remains below the levels of earlier years.

Here’s a closer look at gun deaths in the United States, based on a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the CDC, the FBI and other sources. You can also read key public opinion findings about U.S. gun violence and gun policy in our recent roundup.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/

Drug Overdose Deaths in the U.S. Top 100,000 Annually

Provisional data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate that there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 12-month period ending in April 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before.

The new data documents that estimated overdose deaths from opioids increased to 75,673 in the 12-month period ending in April 2021, up from 56,064 the year before. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine also increased in the 12-month period ending in April 2021. Cocaine deaths also increased, as did deaths from natural and semi-synthetic opioids (such as prescription pain medication).

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm

Guns Prevent Thousands of Crimes Every Day, Research Shows

It never fails. A split-second after a mass shooting occurs, grandstanders and ideologues issue statements demanding new gun controls—even if the laws already on the books failed or the laws they want would have made no difference. Case in point: the tragic incidents in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, in early August 2019.

The message is clear: Guns cause violence. Tax them, take them, ban them, regulate them. Do something, maybe anything! Such knee-jerk, emotional responses are dangerous, writes Charles W. Cooke in National Review, “for when a nation sets up a direct pipeline between its emotions and its laws, it does not keep its liberty for long.”
Guns Don't Kill People

https://fee.org/articles/guns-prevent-thousands-of-crimes-every-day-research-show/

Gun Sales 2021: 5.4 Million Americans Bought a Firearm for the First Time

The results of the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s (NSSF’s) annual surveys of gun retailers are in and, as it turns out, Americans bought a helluva lotta guns in 2021 — and a large percentage of them did so for the very first time.

Based on its retailer surveys and adjusted National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) numbers from the FBI, the NSSF reports an estimated 5.4 million people in the United States became first-time gun buyers last year. They account for nearly 30% of all firearm purchases in 2021.

https://freerangeamerican.us/gun-sales-2021/