RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

This month we are featuring the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions report, “Gun Violence in the U.S. 2022: Examining the Burden Among Children and Teens.” This annual report used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data to provide a comprehensive analysis of the 2022 firearm mortality data, the most recent year of finalized data publicly available from the CDC database.  

In 2022, 48,204 lives were lost to firearms, the second highest total ever recorded. Firearm suicides continued to reach all-time highs, increasing by 2.7% from the previous record in 2021. While gun homicides decreased compared to 2021, 19,651 people were killed by a gun in 2022, which was the second-highest number of gun homicide deaths ever recorded.  

The data also provided an in-depth examination of youth gun violence in the United States. Guns were the leading cause of death for children and teens ages 1-17 in 2022, accounting for more deaths than car crashes, overdoses, or cancers. A total of 2,526 children and teens (ages 1-17) died by a firearm in 2022, an average of seven deaths every day. Black and Hispanic/Latino children and teens (ages 1-17) are disproportionately impacted by gun homicides as the gun homicide rates among these groups were 18 and 3 times higher, respectively, than that of their white counterparts in 2022. Additionally, the gun suicide rate among Black older teens and emerging adults (ages 15-19) surpassed the rate of their white peers for the first time on record.    

The report highlights evidence-based policy recommendations aimed at reducing firearm-related deaths and saving lives. 

NEW RESOURCES

• Violence Policy Center report, Gun Deaths Outpace Motor Vehicle Deaths in 35 States and the District of Columbia in 2022  
• City of Philadelphia’s Office of the City Controller interactive tool mapping the city’s gun violence from 2015 to present day, including the demographics of non-fatal and fatal shooting victims  
• Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence state-by-state gun violence data from 2013 to 2022 
• Everytown for Gun Safety report, Why Does the Gun Industry Oppose Microstamping? 
• Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence report, Gun Violence in the United States 2022: Examining the Burden Among Children and Teens 
• Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence factsheet, Extreme Risk Protection Orders & Domestic Violence Protection Orders: A Side-By-Side Comparison of ERPOs and DVPOs 

MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

• To Battle the Bullet, Baltimore Goes After the Bottle – The Trace quoting Daniel Webster 
• ‘Deeply Troubling’: Gun-violence Prevention Groups React to Trump Victory – ABC News 
• Shooting Deaths Are Down By 10 Percent Across the U.S., Despite What Politicians Say – The Trace 
• In Saginaw, Where Children Are Dying of Gun Violence, Local Races Loom Large – The Guardian 
• Several States Moved to Restrict Guns at Polling Places This Year. Two Succeeded – The Trace 
• Republicans Ban a Policy That Might Solve Their States’ Suicide Crises – Rolling Stone 
• The True Costs of America’s Gun Obsession – The New York Times 
• Gun Death Rates in Some U.S. States Comparable to Conflict Zones, Study Finds – The Washington Post 
• How Many U.S. Mass Shootings Have There Been in 2024? – BBC 

UPCOMING EVENTS

• January 14: Joyce Foundation webinar, Violence Prevention Programming Focused on Rural Youth
• April 7-9, 2025: Savir 2025 Annual Conference in New York City