Firearm Injuries: A Call for Science

Abstract

During 1984 and 1985, the last two years for which data are available, the number of people who died of injuries inflicted by firearms in the United States (62,897) exceeded the number of casualties during the entire 8 1/2-year Vietnam conflict.¹ In 1985 alone, 31,566 persons died as a result of firearm injuries—17,363 from suicide, 11,836 from homicide, 1649 from injuries inflicted unintentionally, 242 during altercations with police, and 476 from undetermined causes. Mortality rates from firearm injuries for women, for teenage boys, and for young men have been higher during the 1980s than at any time previously.² Firearm injuries . . .