Are Mississippians more likely to die by firearm than residents anywhere else in the U.S.? Here are the stats.
Mississippi has a higher rate of gun deaths than any other state in the country.
According to the Center for Disease Control, for every 100,000 people in Mississippi, 28.6 gun-related deaths took place in 2020, the last year data is available. That amounted to 818 deaths that year, a 15.2% increase from 2019.
Guns were the weapon of choice in 85.1% of the state’s homicides and 71% of its suicides, according to Backgroundchecks.org. Of the homicides reported in 2020 across the U.S., 74.5% were committed with a gun and 61.2% of suicides were gun-related.
Louisiana came in a close second with 26.3 gun-related deaths for every 100,000 people. Wyoming, Missouri and Alabama rounded out the top five states with the most gun deaths.
According to the FBI, 91% of Mississippi homicides were committed with a firearm. About half of those crimes (108) were committed with handguns.
Harrison County ranked 18th in small metropolitan areas in the country, averaging 22.5 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people and a total of 47 deaths in 2020. The county ranked higher than Escambia County, Florida (ranked 24th with 21.1 deaths per 100,000); Lafayette Parish, Louisiana (32nd with 19.5 deaths); and Galveston County, Texas (26th with 20.6 deaths).
A look at 304 counties of varied sizes listed Harrison County as 40th in gun-related deaths. Harrison had a higher rate than Fulton County, Georgia (49th with 21.4 deaths per 100,000); Charleston County, South Carolina (56th with 20.8 deaths); and even Cook County, Illinois (61st with 20.4 deaths).
Backgroundchecks.org made a direct correlation between homes with firearms and gun-related deaths. “Many of the states with the highest rates of gun-related deaths are states that also have the highest rates of gun ownership….However, gun ownership is not a perfect predictor of gun deaths: for example, states like New Hampshire and Maine have relatively high levels of gun prevalence, but are also in the bottom 10 states for gun deaths per capita.”
While Mississippi had the highest rate of gun deaths, it did not have the highest rate of households with guns. Between 1980 and 2016, Rand researchers reported 50% of adults in Mississippi lived in households with a firearm. Eight states had higher averages, including Montana where 64% of adults live in households with firearms.
This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 11:49 AM.
