Mass Shootings & Other Gun Violence Cost More Than Lives
Everytown For Gun Safety researchers in 2022 estimated that gun violence costs the U.S. approximately $557 billion annually or 2.6% of the GDP.
I once heard someone say they have not been impacted by gun violence because they didn't know anyone who has been killed or injured. But think again. We all need to do what we can to stop the killing.
In addition to the priceless loss of life, Everytown For Gun Safety researchers last year estimated that gun violence costs the U.S. approximately $557 billion annually or 2.6% of the gross domestic product.
Who foots that bill? We all do.
Researchers found that $12.6 billion of that is paid by taxpayers as communities deal with the aftermath of shootings. For those injured survivors, the price tag is even higher, pushing many into bankruptcy and onto federal food and housing rolls.
A Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital study on an estimated 700,000 people who came to emergency departments with firearms injuries cost those patients, and the federal medical systems supporting many of them, $2.8 billion in hospital costs that first year. A look at extra spending for medical care.
Communities directly impacted by spectacular tragedy suffer direct hits. The Sandy Hook Elementary School was torn down and rebuilt at a cost of approximately $50 million.
The cost of firearms violence is so substantial, that it is spread among the cost of a business's survival, insurance risks, medical costs, and so much more.
Consider these costs associated just with shootings in 2017:
1) The US Department of Justice announced in 2023 that it had reached a tentative $144.5 million settlement for the victims and relatives of those killed in the massacre at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs that left 26 dead.
2) MGM, the owner of Mandalay Bay, agreed to pay victims up to a total of $800 million after an active shooter attacked a Live Nation Music Festival.
3) After a shooting at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, airport officials spent $832,000 to reunite passengers with their luggage and replace carpets and tiles.
The upside to all this terrible news is that as a nation we have never given up. We have trained law enforcement to respond better and faster to shootings and that has resulted in fewer casualties. We have trained hospital personnel to do better and created programs nationwide to help communities recover after major disasters.
There is still so much to do to reduce gun violence, but each of us can find better road maps being developed annually if we choose to look. Perhaps your efforts can focus on helping end firearms suicides in your community. Maybe they involve ensuring guns in homes in your community are safely secured and kept away from children. Or, your challenge may be tougher, working to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals or troubled people.
Firearms injuries and death impact us all. Find your best avenue to help in the fight.
