The Smoking Gun
Exposing the Gun
Industry’s Role
In Gun Violence Today
$557B
Gun violence costs Americans an estimated $557 billion every year.1Everytown Research & Policy, “The Economic Cost of Gun Violence,” July 19, 2022, https://everytownresearch.org/report/the-economic-cost-of-gun-violence/.
$9B
The gun industry makes an estimated $9 billion in revenue annually.1Shahool Al Bari, “Guns & Ammunition Manufacturing in the US,” IBISWorld, December 2021, 19-20. Note: Civilian and law enforcement sales accounted for 46.9% of the gun industry’s total estimated revenue of $18.4 billion for 2021.
Latest Updates
Deadlier Weapons
>45K
Between 2016 and 2021, law enforcement agencies recovered an estimated 45,240 untraceable “ghost guns.”1Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, “Justice Department Announces New Rule to Modernize Firearm Definitions,” April 11, 2022, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-new-rule-modernize-firearm-definitions.
2.3X
Over twice as many people are killed when mass shootings involve an assault weapon.1Everytown Research & Policy, “Mass Shootings in America,” March 2023,https://everytownresearch.org/maps/mass-shootings-in-america/.
Arming Criminals
Toxic Marketing
>46K
In an average year, nearly 46,000 Americans are killed with firearms.1Everytown Research analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. WONDER Online Database, Provisional Mortality Statistics, Multiple Cause of Death (accessed September 1, 2024), 2019–2023, and Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) nonfatal firearm injury data, 2020. Everytown For Gun Safety Support Fund, “EveryStat: United States,” https://everystat.org/.
