$557 Billion
Gun violence costs the United States $557 billion every year. That is 2.6% of GDP. It is more than the federal government spends on transportation, education, or housing.
$557 billion per year. $7.79 million per day in medical costs alone. $30.16 million per day in police and criminal justice costs.
88% of that total is quality-of-life losses for survivors and families. The medical costs are $2.8 billion. Criminal justice is $11 billion. Employers lose $1.47 million per day in productivity, revenue, and replacement training. Taxpayers cover $12.6 billion directly.
The per-person cost is $1,698 a year. Every American pays that whether they own a gun or not.
The Number Nobody Covers
60% of gun deaths are suicides. In 2023, gun suicides reached 27,300, a record high for the third consecutive year. In 2024, the number rose to 27,593. More than half of all suicides in America involve a firearm.
90% fatality rate for suicide attempts with a firearm. With pills it is 8%. Access to a gun is the difference between a crisis and a death.
Harvard’s Means Matter research established the core finding. Most people who attempt suicide do not try again. 90% of people who survive an attempt do not die by suicide. But firearms have a 90% fatality rate, compared to roughly 8% for overdose. The method determines whether someone survives the worst moment of their life.
This is why red flag laws matter. Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) temporarily remove firearms from people in crisis. Research shows they reduce firearm suicides. Six states are banning them.
400 Million Firearms
There are roughly 400 million civilian-owned firearms in the United States. More guns than people. The U.S. has 4% of the world’s population and 46% of the world’s civilian-owned guns.
In Q1 2026, the Gun Violence Archive tracked 3,103 shooting deaths, the lowest Q1 figure in a dozen years. Gun homicides have been declining since their 2021 peak. But gun suicides keep climbing. The overall trend is moving in two directions at once.
134 mass shootings occurred in the first four months of 2026, killing 147 people and wounding 529. Mass shootings account for 3.6% of gun deaths. They dominate the news cycle. The 27,593 suicides do not.
What Works
States with stronger gun laws have lower gun death rates. This is not correlation. The research has controlled for poverty, urbanization, and demographics. The relationship holds.
Red flag laws work. Background checks work. Safe storage laws reduce child deaths. Waiting periods reduce impulse suicides. None of these prevent law-abiding citizens from owning firearms. All of them reduce the $557 billion annual cost.
Virginia just passed a gun violence prevention act. Other states are banning the laws that work. The policy map is splitting, just like healthcare, just like voting.
Read more on the Guns and Public Safety hub.