We must prioritize people over guns. (2023)

overview

What is gun violence?

Gun violence is violence perpetrated using firearms, such as pistols, shotguns, automatic rifles, or machine guns.

How many people die from gun violence worldwide?

• More than 500 people die every day from gun violence
• 44% of all homicides worldwide involve gun violence
• There was1.4 million firearm-related deathsworldwide between 2012 and 2016

The majority of victims and perpetrators are young men, but women are particularly at risk of intimate partner firearm violence. Sexual violence can also be facilitated by firearms.

How many people are injured by gunfire worldwide?

• An estimated 2,000 people are injured by gunfire every day
• At least 2 million people worldwide are living with gun injuries

Millions of people suffer from the severe and long-term psychological effects that gun violence — or the threat of gun violence — has on individuals, families, and their broader community.

Nearly 134,000 people were shot dead and injured by guns in the United States in 2017.

Gunshot wounds are often life-changing and have an indelible impact on victims' long-term mental and physical health. Some need permanent, lifelong care, many others lose their ability to work, especially in physically demanding jobs. However, programs that provide adequate long-term care, rehabilitation and vocational retraining are virtually non-existent. The toll gun violence takes on victims, family members and medical services has resulted in a chronic public health crisis -- with remarkably little government response. Access to affordable and quality health care services in the US should include necessary long-term health interventions, including long-term pain management, rehabilitation and other support services, and mental health care.

How many guns are produced worldwide each year?

There is8 million new small arms and up to 15 billion rounds of ammunitionproduced every year.

The small arms trade is worth an estimated $8.5 billion a year.

Gun violence can lead to a violation of the most basic of human rights – the right to life. States have an obligation to combat actual or foreseeable threats to life and should therefore take measures to protect people from gun violence.

Failure by a State to adequately control how individuals own and use firearms could violate their obligations under international human rights law to protect the rights to life and security of individuals.

Gun violence by private actors has a strong socio-economic dimension. It tends to be concentrated in low-income neighborhoods with high crime rates. These often include trafficking in illegal drugs, inadequate policing or policing that does not meet international human rights and law enforcement standards, and lack of access to public services.

The easy access and proliferation of firearms in these circumstances can impact communities around the worldThe full spectrum of human rights.

Gun violence and the right to health

Gun violence can undermine that of humansright to health. People living in communities with high levels of gun violence may find it difficult or dangerous to access local healthcare facilities. The partitioning of residential areas by armed criminal gangs can impede access, and frequent official or de facto curfews linked to police operations can shut down health services.

In some cases, health services may avoid locating in areas with high levels of gun violence due to issues related to insecurity and poor staff retention. In disadvantaged neighborhoods plagued by gun violence, there is often a lack of basic psychological support for survivors of domestic violence and the provision of shelters or other safe shelters for those leaving violent relationships.

Gun violence causes a range of health problems in affected communities. A lack of everyday safety can have profound psychological effects, particularly for those who witnessed shootings and family members of victims. The survivors of gun violence can be severely and chronically physically and mentally debilitated and in need of long-term medical and social care.

Gun violence and the right to education

Firearm violence can disrupt school operations and make it dangerous for students to travel to and from school. The lack of government resources for education and the difficulty of recruiting and retaining teachers in gun violence-ridden neighborhoods negatively impact and undermine educationright to education.

Endemic firearm violence and related insecurity can have particularly severe impacts on children and youth, including by disrupting school attendance and retention, disrupting the learning environment, and reducing the quality of instruction. This, in turn, can lead to poorer life outcomes in terms of employment and income, and perpetuate cycles of deprivation, crime and violence.

gun violence worldwide

Gun violence is particularly prevalent in America, where easy access to guns, weak regulation, or poor enforcement of gun violence laws prevail. In Latin America and the Caribbean, corruption, organized crime and a dysfunctional criminal justice system are fueling the problem.

Percentage of homicides committed with firearms:

Gun Violence in the United States

Among wealthier, developed countries, the US is an outlier when it comes to gun violence. US governments haveturned gun violence into a human rights crisis. Widespread access to firearms and lax regulations mean more than 39,000 men, women and children have fled their homeskilled at gunpoint in the US every year.

On average, more than 360 people are shot dead every day in the United States and survive — at least long enough to get to a hospital.

About 39,773 people died from gunshot wounds in 2017, an average of nearly 109 people per day. Per capita, this is significantly higher than in other industrialized countries. Firearm homicides in the United States disproportionately affect communities of color and young black men in particular.

Measures such as a national gun register are missing in the USA.

Individuals can legally carry concealed firearms in public in any state in the United States and can legally carry firearms openly in public in most states. However, there is no nationwide consistency in the laws governing the carrying of firearms in public, and some states have no laws at all: 12 states allow individuals to carry concealed weapons in public without a license or permit, and 30 states allow it openly carrying a handgun in public without a license or permit.

Open carrying of firearms in public is currently legal in some form in 45 states. Only seven states require people to provide credible justification or proof that they are required to carry a concealed firearm. All 50 states and Washington, D.C. permit the concealed carrying of firearms in public.

The US government prioritizes gun ownership over basic human rights. Despite the sheer number of guns in circulation and the sheer number of people killed by guns each year, there is a shocking lack of federal regulations that could save thousands.

Margaret Huang, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA

How are discrimination and gun violence related in the US?

In the United States, African American communities, particularly young Black men, are disproportionately affected by firearm homicides. 14,542 people died in gun homicides in the United States in 2017. Of these, African Americans accounted for 58.5% nationally, despite making up only 13% of the US population.

Firearm homicides were the leading cause of death for black men and boys ages 15 to 34 in 2017, and they were more than 10 times more likely to die from firearm homicides than white men and boys of the same age group. failure to address systemic discrimination; failure to keep firearms out of the hands of those most likely to misuse them; and failure to invest in gun violence prevention programs are all contributing to this crisis.

Women subjected to domestic violence and children are also disproportionately affected.

• In 2017, the number of children who died from gun deaths in the United States increased to 1,814 from 1,637 in 2016
• Between 2% and 7% of all injuries treated in US pediatric trauma centers are firearm-related

Most children who are victims of gun homicides in the United States come from minority communities. Homicide is the second leading cause of death among black children, and 65% of those homicides are committed with guns.

Statistics on mass shootings in the USA

Mass shootings are typically defined as shootings in which four or more victims are killed.

In the US between 2009 and 2016 there were:

Public mass shootings account for less than 1% of gun deaths in the United States.

However, public mass shootings have profound emotional and psychological effects on survivors, families and communities. They have created an environment where people feel unsafe in public places such as churches, schools, concert halls and cinemas, which is affecting themhuman rights to religion, education and leisure.

School shootings in the United States

Between 2013 and June 2018, there were 316 shootings on school grounds in the United States.

The factors that contribute to a child picking up a gun are diverse and often poorly understood. However, in the context of urban communities, youth violence can be associated with fear, a need for protection, distrust of the police due to deep-rooted discrimination and discriminatory policing, and a desire for respect and recognition from peers, as well as involvement in criminal activity.

The solutions to combating mass shootings in the US are the same as those used to prevent other forms of gun violence and include a national licensing and registration system and extensive background checks.

Activism against gun violence

On February 14, 2018, 17 people died in a school shooting in Parkland, Florida. But this tragedy has united and inspired students from around the world to protest for gun reform. Many young people in the US now believe that stricter gun control can make them safer and their ownThe grassroots movement for youth weapon reform is growing. Jaclyn Corin is a survivor of the school shooting turned gun reform activist:

The only way to heal was to take action

Jaclyn Corin

"I never thought this would happen to me. Parkland has been cited as the safest community in Florida, but when tragedy struck and there was a mass shooting at the school, I knew the only way to heal was to take action.

When my friends and I got together we didn't have a plan. We literally started work on a living room floor. Being young worked in our favor. We weren't adults trying to guess what worked for young people, and we didn't ask permission. Other kids from across the nation saw what we were doing and felt they could too.

Survivors of a school shooting meant people listened to us. We were angry and loud. Responding to what happened to us has helped build our movement faster than we could ever have imagined. It's amazing to see the impact we're having, but there's also a sense of guilt that this arose out of something so horrible.

We createdmarch for our livesbecause our friends who lost their lives would have wanted us to do something. We do it for you.

The kids doing something to make a difference inspire me—the girl running for school board, or the others running March For Our Lives. It's the people and the present that inspire me.”

How can states stop gun violence?

Effectively implemented gun control and violence prevention projects can stop the slaughter.

As a first step, states should recognize firearm violence as a threat to human rights, in particular their right to life, physical integrity, personal security and health.

Gun laws and gun licenses

States can set up some basic systems to regulate how private individuals can own and use firearms and ammunition to prevent them from using firearms to abuse human rights. The UN has established international guidelines that states can incorporate into national firearms laws.

These international standards recommend prohibiting the possession of firearms without a license; that states should register all firearms; and this illicit possession should be treated as a criminal offence.

A gun license should be linked to certain criteria. For example, the applicant should undergo a comprehensive background check to identify risk factors such as B. criminal record – particularly for violent behavior at home or in the community; history of gender-based, sexual, or domestic violence; and history of problem drug/alcohol use, emotional problems, mental illness, and other circumstances that increase the risk of harming yourself or others through the use of firearms. Gun licenses should be limited in time and training in the use of the gun should be mandatory. The number and type of weapons that a person may possess should also be strictly limited based on the principles of necessity and credible justification.

Firearms and ammunition that pose an unacceptable risk to public safety, including those likely to cause excessive or unintentional injury, such as fully automatic firearms, semi-automatic assault rifles, semi-automatic shotguns, and semi-automatic submachine guns, must be banned from use by private individuals.

To prevent fueling the illicit firearms trade and possession, states must take proactive measures to ensure all stockpiles of firearms and related ammunition, including those used by military and law enforcement personnel, as well as those that are held by traders are kept safe.

How can states help communities with high levels of gun violence?

Where patterns of gun ownership and use result in chronic insecurity, States have an obligation to protect life and ensure safety for all through human rights-compliant law enforcement, community intervention and tightening regulations on gun ownership and use.

Initiatives should focus on those most at risk of engaging in gun violence or being victims of gun violence – often young men growing up in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Long-term, adequately funded, evidence-based projects, tailored to specific social, economic and cultural contexts and working in partnership with affected communities, are required to achieve sustained reductions in gun violence.

Stop gender-based gun violence

2017 some87,000 women were deliberately killedaround the world. More than half of them, 50,000 (58%), were killed by intimate partners or family members.

This means that every day 137 women are killed by a family member worldwide. Of the women intentionally killed in 2017, more than a third (30,000) were killed by their current or former intimate partner.

Firearms are the primary mechanism for killing and intimate partner intimidation in countries with high rates of gun ownership.

Studies in the US indicate that having a firearm in the home increases the risk of women being killed by intimate partners.

In addition, the presence of a firearm can have a disempowering and demoralizing effect on women and can be used for psychological and/or sexual coercion.

States should adopt strict laws and practices to prohibit gun ownership for individuals with a history of violence against a family member or intimate partner.

Does the gun reform work?

Yes, gun reform is working. Almost all states regulate the acquisition, possession and use of guns in some form. Most do this by licensing users and registering firearms.

PistolReform work in parts of the worldwhere there are strict controls on access to firearms and well-enforced firearms regulations. This applies to much of Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Asia. In Japan, South Korea and Singapore, for example, gun violence rates are extremely low.

What is Amnesty doing about gun violence?

At Amnesty International, we have focused our work on domestic gun reform and the prevention of gun violence by advocating for regulations on the use and possession of firearms.

We support the establishment of evidence-based programs to reduce violence in communities where there are persistently high levels of gun violence.

We are also working to stop firearms exports to crisis areas where weapons could be used for serious human rights abuses. For example, we examined international arms exports to the Saudi Arabia/UAE-led coalition andexposed how arms were diverted for use by militias to commit human rights abuses in Yemeni civil war. For contracting states,Delivery of weapons for use in the Yemen conflictviolates the Global Arms Trade Treaty; These transfers also violate EU law and, in many cases, the domestic law of the supplying countries.

Along with several other organizations, we successfully lobbied for a global campaignArms Trade Treaty (ATT)which became international law in 2014. Any state that has ratified the ATT must follow strict rules governing international arms transfers.

We remain committed to the effective implementation of theTOstemming the flow of arms that fuel violence, atrocities and state repression around the world. The ATT can save lives and protect people's human rights.

Governments have a legal obligation to protect the right to life and, accordingly, have a responsibility to protect people from gun violence. We must remind them of their duty by demanding gun reform.

You can stand up and remind our leaders of their obligation to protect us. They can play a crucial role in campaigns and protests against gun violence. By getting involved, you can make governments understand that poor regulation of gun ownership and use leads to violence and that they must now address this through strict gun controls and effective interventions in communities suffering high levels of gun violence .

They have the power to tell governments that by applying gun laws we can all live safely and without fear - which is our right.

Checkif your country has joined the Arms Trade Treaty and tell them to do so now if they haven't!

Governments have a legal obligation to protect the right to life and, accordingly, have a responsibility to protect people from gun violence. We must remind them of their duty by demanding gun reform.

You can stand up and remind our leaders of their obligation to protect us. They can play a crucial role in campaigns and protests against gun violence. By getting involved, you can make governments understand that poor regulation of gun ownership and use leads to violence and that they must now address this through strict gun controls and effective interventions in communities suffering high levels of gun violence .

They have the power to tell governments that by applying gun laws we can all live safely and without fear - which is our right.

Checkif your country has joined the Arms Trade Treaty and tell them to do so now if they haven't!

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