What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S.
While the number of gun deaths in the U.S. fell for the second consecutive year in 2023, it remained among the highest annual totals on record.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Gun Policy
Key facts about Americans and guns
About six-in-ten U.S. adults (58%) favor stricter gun laws. Another 26% say that U.S. gun laws are about right, while 15% favor less strict gun laws.
About 1 in 4 U.S. teachers say their school went into a gun-related lockdown in the last school year
59% of public K-12 teachers say they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting ever happening at their school.
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Cultural Issues and the 2024 Election
Voters who support Biden and Trump have starkly different opinions on many issues, and these two groups are divided internally as well.
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Striking findings from 2023
Here’s a look back at 2023 through some of our most striking research findings.
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For Most U.S. Gun Owners, Protection Is the Main Reason They Own a Gun
Gun owners in the United States continue to cite protection far more than other factors, including hunting and sport shooting, as a major reason they own a gun. About half of Americans who don’t own a gun say they could never see themselves owning one (52%) while nearly as many could imagine themselves as gun owners in the future (47%).
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Gun Violence Widely Viewed as a Major – and Growing – National Problem
Growing shares of Americans view both gun violence and violent crime as very big national problems. 49% of U.S. adults say gun ownership increases safety by allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves; an identical share says it reduces safety by giving too many people access to firearms and increasing misuse.
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Gun deaths among U.S. children and teens rose 50% in two years
In 2021, there were 2,590 gun deaths among U.S. children and teens under the age of 18, up from 1,732 in 2019.
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About a third of K-12 parents are very or extremely worried a shooting could happen at their children’s school
Mothers are more likely than fathers to be extremely or very worried about a school shooting, and concerns also vary by race and ethnicity.
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Republicans in Congress are about three times as likely as Democrats to indicate that they own a gun
At least 110 representatives and senators in the current 117th Congress have publicly stated or otherwise confirmed that they own a gun.
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Abortion Rises in Importance as a Voting Issue, Driven by Democrats
While the economy remains the dominant issue in this fall’s midterm elections, the issue of abortion has increased markedly in importance. More voters continue to view their midterm vote as an expression of opposition to Joe Biden than support for him. But across both parties, more voters now say Biden is not much of a factor in their vote.
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Broad Public Approval of New Gun Law, but Few Say It Will Do a Lot To Stem Gun Violence
Republicans and Democrats differ sharply in views of the new gun law, its effectiveness and whether further gun legislation will be necessary. Roughly six-in-ten adults (63%) say they want to see Congress pass another round of legislation to address gun violence, compared with 35% who do not.
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What we know about the increase in U.S. murders in 2020
The U.S. murder rate rose 30% between 2019 and 2020 – the largest single-year increase in more than a century.
