Assault by firearms kill about 250,000 people globally every year, according to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
This study, based on gun deaths in 195 different countries and territories from 1990 to 2016, shows almost two-thirds of these deaths were homicides. Of all the gun deaths that occurred in 2016, 64 per cent were homicides, 27 per cent were suicides and 9 per cent due to accidents.
The JAMA editorial says gun killing is "a major public health problem for humanity." Except for one year during the study period, gun violence killed more people than combat and terrorism. More than 800,000 people were dead in Rwandan genocide of 1994.
The United States leads in firearm-related death rate in the world and the figure is disproportionately high when compared with other high-income countries. From 1990 to 2016, firearm suicides in the United States has gone up from 19,700 to 23,800 while gun deaths increased from 35,800 to 37,200 for the same period. Though mass shootings in the US received more media attention they account for a small portion of all gun deaths in the nation.
The United States, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela together account for more than half of the global gun deaths. The overall homicide rate in the United States is 7 times higher than in these other countries. The US firearm suicide rate is 8 times higher than the average of these other nations. Half of the total number of suicides in the US are committed using firearms while it is just s5 per cent in these other nations.
The study establishes that more than two-thirds of the homicides in the United States are due to gun violence. Firearm homicide accounts for less than 20 per cent of homicides in the other high-income countries. Americans are 10 times more likely to die on account of firearm compared with people of other high-income countries. Studies indicate that easy availability of firearms increases the chances of gun deaths.
JAMA studied death rates per 100,000 population for each country. El Salvador topped firearm death rate at nearly 40 per 100,000 people and Singapore recorded the lowest with 0.1 per 100,000.
In terms of gun suicide rate, Greenland leads with 22 per 100,000 though actual number was just 11suicides. The United States with of 6 deaths per 100,000 is just behind Greenland.