More potential years of life lost to deaths by trauma in the United States are caused by gun tragedies each year than car crashes, according to a study released in the journal Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open that analyzed data from a 10-year period.
The study used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the agency's standard formula to determine the years of potential life lost by taking the age of death and subtracting it from 80, which is used to represent the average American life expectancy.
The researchers found that in 2017, 1.44 million years of potential life were lost because of deaths caused by firearms, while 1.37 million years of potential life were lost due to motor vehicle crashes. The study also found that this trend continued in 2018, the most recent year for which this data was available.
"The main argument is that the right to bear arms to prevent injury or to defend against aggressors may result in a small number of preventable deaths is a plausible theory, however, the data reveal that the resulting access to firearms has equated to magnitudes of death due to firearm suicides in the same individuals demanding access to firearms," the researchers wrote in the journal.
Most of the deaths from firearms were related to suicide, the study found, the number increasing from 19,000 suicide-related deaths in 2009 to more than 24,000 in 2018.
Most suicide-related deaths, which accounted for 4.95 million years of potential life lost, were among white men, while most homicide-related firearm deaths, which amounted to 3.2 million years of potential life lost, were among Black men. Firearm homicide rates for women increased by 10% during the last 10 years, and firearm suicide rates rose more than 31%.
"Previous studies have shown that firearm ownership, mass shootings, injuries and death are more of a problem in the USA as compared with other developed countries," the researchers continued. "The demand for total freedom and the second amendment have resulted in high access to firearms in this country, and this is undisputable."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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