1. About how many people in America are shot each year?
5,000 55,000
15,000 115,000
2. Of those shot in the United States annually, how many people are killed?
400 45,000
4,500 450,000
3. How many guns are there in the United States per 100 people?
8 guns per 100 people 120 guns per 100 people
32 guns per 100 people 175 guns per 100 people
4. The number of guns in America has increased over the last 20 years.
True
False
5. What is the most common type of firearm in America?
Handgun
Shotgun
Rifle
6. What kind of firearms are most commonly used in homicides?
Handgun
Shotgun
Rifle
7. What percentage of gun deaths are the result of mass shootings?
1.5% 30%
15% 50%
8. Most gun deaths in the United States are homicides.
True
False
9. About what percentage of reported suicide attempts carried out with a gun result in a death?
20% 60%
40% 80%
10. About how many children are shot each day in America?
5 15
10 20
11. Every gun buyer undergoes a background check, whether purchasing from a store or a private seller.
True
False
12. Chicago has the highest homicide rate in America.
True
False
13. Households with guns are more likely to experience a fatality from crime, accident or suicide than households without guns.
True
False
ANSWERS
1. An average of 115,000 people are shot each year, according to the CDC
2. More than 45,000 people died by firearms in 2021.
3. With 175 guns per 100 people, the United States has more guns than any other country.
4. TRUE There are an estimated 400 million firearms in American households.
5. HANDGUN A recent survey estimated that 42% of all firearms were handguns, most acquired for self-defense. Two decades ago, the most common gun owned by Americans was a hunting rifle.
6. Handguns are used in homicides more than twice as often, per the Department of Justice.
7. Mass shootings account for less than 1.2% of annual gun deaths, the New York Times estimates, using figures from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Gun Violence Archive.
8. FALSE. 43% of the 45,000 gun deaths recorded annually are homicides; 54% are suicides. Unintentional shootings make up another 1%.
9. Suicide attempts by firearms have an 82.5 percent fatality rate, one study found. Guns are not the most common means of suicide attempt, but they result in more deaths than every other method combined.
10. Nineteen children are shot in the United States every day. Three die, on average, a study released this year in the journal Pediatrics found.
11. FALSE Federal law requires gun buyers undergo a background check only when purchasing a weapon from a licensed firearms dealer. 26 states now have permit-less carry.
12. FALSE Chicago has the most homicides in raw numbers. But on a per-capita basis, the city’s homicide rate is lower than seven other cities, including New Orleans, St. Louis and Buffalo, New York.
13. TRUE Polls show a majority of Americans believe a gun makes a household safer, but crime and violent injury data suggest the opposite. One study found that, “For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.”