More people in the United States die by firearms than in any other high-income country, according to a new report from the Yale School of Public Health.
鈥淚n the U.S., firearm fatalities are almost 10 times that of Canada, and much higher than [in] countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden or France,鈥� said Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency room physician and dean of the Yale School of Public Health.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 because Americans are bad or wrong or sick,鈥� said Ranney, who co-authored the report, .
鈥淭here's something different to explain it, and it may be access to these methods in moments of desperation or hopelessness,鈥� she said.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Black, white and Hispanic populations would all see large increases in life expectancy if alcohol, drug and firearm fatalities are reduced in the United States, according to the report.
In addition to legislative fixes, proposed solutions from the report鈥檚 authors include investing in green spaces and creating better access to mental health treatment.
In 2022, there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the U.S. and more than half of those deaths were recorded as suicides, according to a forthcoming analysis by the Research and Action Institute, a think tank of the Association of American Medical Colleges. That same year there were also nearly 108,000 drug-related deaths and more than 51,000 alcohol-induced deaths.
Even though these numbers made up a small fraction of the nearly 3.3 million U.S. deaths in 2022, they disproportionately affected children and younger adults 鈥� and, as a result, lowered the U.S. life expectancy at birth, according to the Yale study.
鈥淚f these deaths were eliminated (and other causes of death remained the same), life expectancy at birth would increase by 1.6 years,鈥� the authors wrote.
Across all ages, guns are 鈥榩rimary means鈥� of lethal violence and suicide
Corporations and financial institutions are untapped resources in gun violence prevention efforts, according to a new report from the policy nonprofit group Milken Institute, 鈥�.鈥�
The report estimated that gun violence costs the U.S. economy $557 billion each year, yet only 1% of total philanthropic funding in the U.S. supports crime- and violence prevention-related endeavors.
Earlier this year, the U.S. surgeon general declared .
鈥淕uns are the primary means of lethal violence and suicide across all ages in our country,鈥� said Dr. Laine Taylor, chief medical officer at The . 鈥淚n 海角换妻, our gun laws and preventative firearm safety education has meant that is not the case for our youth.鈥�
But The Village continues to treat youth who are exposed to gun violence 鈥� or the threat of it 鈥� at schools and communities, Taylor said.
鈥淭his causes insidious trauma reactions as well as normalization of gun ubiquity in their developing minds,鈥� she said. 鈥満＝腔黄� youth are not shielded from learning about shootings in the country or in their neighborhood. Many of our children contend with the mortality of their family members due to gun violence, while also wondering about their own when they walk down the block or go to school.鈥�
Consequently, children and youth suffer from a spectrum of behaviors ranging from avoidance and anxiety to anger and aggression, and 鈥渁ll of this is 100% preventable,鈥� Taylor said.
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