Preventing Injury and Deaths from Firearms

Firearm injury and deaths are a public health issue.

Firearm violence can include guns used in self-harm or violence between two people or among groups of people. However, firearm violence prevention does not only focus on guns – it focuses on the reasons for the violence. A public health approach to firearm prevention can include, but is not limited to:

• Improving and supporting mental health
• Increasing resiliency and positive relationship skills
• Increasing economic opportunities
• Solidifying and increasing awareness and access to a positive life trajectory
• Increasing hope
• Increasing community connectedness
• Creating a built environment that promotes connection and decreases unsafe spaces
• Encouraging and supporting safe storage strategies

The public health community has an opportunity to prevent firearm violence. Ensuring people have what they need to thrive can help reduce the causes of firearm violence (e.g., firearms used for self-harm, safety, power, or retaliation). 

Preventing violence starts where we live, work, and play. Addressing the causes of violence means looking at employment opportunities and conditions, transportation, safety, housing quality and affordability, education, and access to food and health care.

Community violence prevention can take place in communities, hospitals, schools, faith-based spaces, and recreation centers. MDH and partners are implementing strategies based on evidence that can prevent violence with firearms and address related trauma.

Firearm violence in Minnesota

More and more Minnesotans are dying from firearm homicides and suicides each year.

• Firearm homicides in Minnesota were 117% higher in 2022 than in 2018 (143 and 66, respectively).
• Suicide deaths by firearm increased 13% from 2018 to 2022 (356 and 402, respectively). 
• From 2015 to 2020, firearms were used in 45% of suicide deaths, 67% of homicide deaths and 54% of intimate partner homicide deaths in Minnesota.
• From 2021 to 2022, there were 307 homicides in Minnesota, a rate of 2.88 homicides per 100,000 residents. In that same period, there were more than twice as many suicide deaths by firearm, totaling 795 (a rate of 6.60).
• Alcohol consumption is a risk factor for gun violence and death. 
  • An estimated one in three firearm homicide perpetrators drink alcohol heavily before murdering their victims.
  • Approximately one in four firearm suicide victims drink heavily before they die by suicide. 
  • Reducing excessive alcohol consumption could lead to decreased deaths that involve alcohol and firearm violence. 

Learn more about intentional and unintentional firearm deaths in Minnesota: Minnesota Violence Death Reporting System (MNVDRS) Dashboard.

For more information on alcohol and firearm violence, visit Alcohol and Other Drugs. 

Firearm violence impacts communities

Firearm violence affects some communities more than others. White males accounted for 1,532, or 82.5%, of firearm suicide deaths from 2018-2022. In that same timeframe, rates of firearm suicide were about twice as high in rural counties as urban counties. These patterns have been consistent for decades.

A suicide death can have profound impact on families and communities. When a person dies by suicide, their surviving family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and community members may feel a sense of shock and prolonged grief, and experience depression, anxiety, or thoughts of suicide themselves. 

Firearm homicide patterns are different, affecting Black and Indigenous communities at higher rates and primarily centered in urban areas. In addition, people aged 20 to 29 made up 35.7% of firearm homicides from 2018-2022, resulting in rates two to three times higher than people over the ages of 40. 

Discriminatory and racist policies have made it harder for Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color to access well-paying jobs, generational wealth, safe housing, quality education, and health care, including for mental health. Structural disadvantages such as these, along with historic and current oppression through racism and discriminatory policies, impact trust in institutions and may lead to possession of firearms to increase feelings of safety. Learn more about the impact of gun violence on historically marginalized communities at Everytown Research & Policy. 

Impacts of firearm violence include but are not limited to death, physical injury, substantial mental health challenges, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), increased trauma responses, massive heath care costs, loss of productive years, loss of economic productivity, loss of community safety, and loss of community connection.

Resources

Firearm safety in Minnesota

• For more information on firearm safety and storage, visit the Minnesota Department of Safety: Make Minnesota Safe and Secure.
• Know about Minnesota’s red flag law. Visit Minnesota Department of Public Safety: Extreme Risk Protection Orders.

Public health resources

• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials: A Roadmap for Using a Public Health Approach to Prevent Firearm Injury. This roadmap outlines a step-by-step guide for jurisdictions to enhance their efforts in firearm injury prevention, aligning with a modified version of the public health approach developed by CDC and WHO. 
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials: How to Prevent Firearm Injury Using a Public Health Approach. This toolkit builds on ASTHO's roadmap (linked above) and offers implementation guidance and examples from states and universities. 
• APHA: Gun Violence
• CDC: Firearm Violence Prevention

If you or a loved one are experiencing an emotional emergency or just need to talk, call or text 988 to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. If you need immediate medical help, call 911.