The rate of firearm homicide per 100,000 persons age 12 or older declined 41% across the 26-year period of 1993 to 2018, from 8.4 to 5.0 homicides per 100,000. During the more recent 5 years from 2014 to 2018, this rate was between 4.0 and 5.2 homicides per 100,000 persons age 12 or older. The firearm homicide rate of 4.0 in 2014 was the lowest annual rate from 1993 to 2018.
Firearm homicides include fatal injuries that involved a firearm and were inflicted by another person with intent to injure or kill by any means. On average,
71% of all homicides were committed with a firearm from 1993 to 2018. In 2018, some 14,000 homicides were committed with a firearm.
The number of firearm homicides involving persons age 12 or older declined 23% across 26 years, from 18,000 in 1993 to 13,800 in 2018. Persons ages 18 to 24 had the highest firearm homicide rate among persons age 12 or older (11.6 homicides per 100,000) during the aggregate period of 2014–18. A total of 150 persons age 11 or younger were victims of firearm homicide in 2018, resulting in a rate of 0.3 homicides per 100,000 persons in this age group.
During 2014–18, males had higher rates than females of firearm homicide. Based on rates among population groups, firearm homicide was higher for black persons (22.0 per 100,000) than white (1.8 per 100,000), Hispanic (4.6 per 100,000), Asian or Other Pacific Islander (1.2 per 100,000), and American Indian or Alaska Native (6.2 per 100,000) persons.
The rate of nonfatal firearm violence for persons age 12 or older declined 76% from 1993 to 2018, dropping from 7.3 to 1.7 victimizations per 1,000, and ranging from 1.1 to 1.8 per 1,000 from 2014 to 2018. In 2018, there were 470,800 nonfatal firearm victimizations against persons age 12 or older, down 69% from 1.5 million in 1993. Males had higher rates than females of nonfatal firearm victimization during 2014–18. Nearly 70% of nonfatal firearm violence was reported to police during this five-year period.
From 1993 to 2018, an annual average of 8% of all fatal and nonfatal violence involved a firearm. The majority of this firearm violence involved the use of a handgun. In 2018, an estimated 7,600 firearm homicides were committed with a handgun, down from 14,000 in 1993. The average number of nonfatal firearm victimizations involving a handgun also decreased, from 1.3 million in 1993–95 to 432,800 in 2016–18.
