Gun Suicides in US Hit Record High in 2023, Johns Hopkins Report Finds

More Americans died by gun suicide in 2023 than in any other year on record, according to a new report that analyzed federal mortality figures. The total exceeded the combined number of deaths from gun homicides, accidental shootings and police shootings.

The report, produced by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions and the Johns Hopkins Center for Suicide Prevention, found that 27,300 people died by firearm suicide in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available. Those deaths accounted for 58% of all gun deaths that year. The authors drew on finalized data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose Wonder database recorded 46,728 firearm-related deaths in 2023.

Gun homicides, by contrast, fell for a second consecutive year. They dropped from 20,958 in 2021 to 19,651 in 2022 and then to 17,927 in 2023. Even so, the 2023 figure was the fifth highest on record for gun homicides, the report said.

Rates of gun suicide were highest in rural, less populated states. Wyoming topped the country at roughly 19.9 deaths per 100,000 residents, nearly ten times the rate in Massachusetts, which was lowest at about 2.1 per 100,000.

Rose Kim, the report's lead author and an assistant policy adviser at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, pointed to the nature of the weapon. "People are just using guns when it comes to considering suicide because it's highly lethal and it's easily accessible," Kim said. She called that "a deadly combination" that is "driving the suicide epidemic in our country."

According to the report, suicide has been the leading category of gun death in the United States for nearly three decades, even as public attention and lawmaking have centered mostly on homicides and mass shootings.

Several states led by both parties have adopted new gun measures this year. They range from permitless carry in North Carolina and a statewide ban on extreme risk protective orders, also known as red flag orders, in Texas, to an assault-style weapons ban in Rhode Island and a prohibition on rapid-fire devices in Oregon. The Michigan Senate has approved legislation to ban bump stocks and ghost guns, and a Washington state law taking effect in May 2027 will require prospective buyers to obtain a five-year permit through the state patrol. In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, signed a March law making the state the 26th to outlaw gun conversion devices, or auto sears, and an April measure letting people experiencing suicidal thoughts surrender a firearm to a licensed dealer.

Kim said safe storage laws, purchaser licensing and extreme risk protection orders can help reduce gun deaths, adding that evidence-based public health interventions can address gun suicides and save lives.

The report also detailed demographic patterns. Men were nearly seven times as likely as women to die by gun suicide in 2023, with the highest rate among men 70 and older. Firearms remained the leading cause of death for people under 17 for the fourth year running, with 2,581 deaths. Gun suicides among those aged 10 to 19 were roughly flat, at 1,252 in 2023 versus 1,238 in 2022, but disparities emerged by race and ethnicity. Since 2014, the rate for Black youth in that age group more than tripled, from 1 to 3.3 per 100,000, while the rate for white youth rose from 2.6 to 3. It was the second straight year Black youth had the higher rate. CDC data also showed gun suicides among Hispanic youth nearly doubled between 2014 and 2023.