Guns in America

Guns in America After Newtown

Updated June 10, 2014

by John Light30164Lauren Feeney30164 and Karin Kamp

Here’s a look at some stats on guns — the deaths and school shootings, America’s public opinion and the failed Congressional attempt to take action — in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 27 people, including 20 children and the shooter.

The Victims

Slate editors note in the introduction to their crowdsourced map that attempts to visualize gun deaths in the US (pictured below), determining the actual number of gun deaths each year is “surprisingly hard.” That’s because as many as 60 percent of gun deaths are suicides that usually go unreported by the press.

Click to see the interactive, crowdsourced map visualizing reported gun deaths since Newtown, from Slate.

Number of people killed by guns, including homicide, suicide and accidental death, between Newtown and December 2013 (that have been reported by the media): 12,042
Number of people killed by guns so far in 2014: 4,772
Estimated real number of people killed by guns, including homicide, suicide and accidental death since Newtown (using most recent CDC estimates for yearly data): 51,158
Total gun deaths in 2010 (the latest year for which the CDC posts data): 31,672
number of those who were children or teens: 2,700
Number of school shootings since Newtown: 79*

Jan. 7, 2013 –	Apostolic Revival Center Christian School, Fort Myers, FL – Kristopher Smith, 27, a student’s parent, was killed.
Jan. 10, 2013 –	Taft Union High School, Taft, CA – one injured.
Jan. 15, 2013 –	Stevens Institute of Business and Arts, St. Louis, MO – two injured.
Jan. 15, 2013 –	Hazard Community and Technical College, Hazard, KY – Taylor Jade Cornett, 12, Caitlin Cornett, 20, and Jackie Cornett, 53, were killed.
Jan. 16, 2013 –	Chicago State University, Chicago, IL – Tyrone Lawson, 17, was killed.
Jan. 22, 2013 –	Lone Star College, Houston, TX – three injured.
Jan. 31, 2013 –	Price Middle School, Atlanta, GA – one injured.
Feb. 1, 2013 –	Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA – one injured.
Feb. 7, 2013 –	Indian River St. College, Fort Pierce, FL – one injured.
Feb. 27, 2013 –	Henry W. Grady High School, Atlanta, GA – one injured.
March 18, 2013 –	University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL – The gunman, James Oliver Seevakumaran, 30, killed himself.
March 21, 2013 –	Davidson Middle School, Southgate, MI – Tyler Nichols, 13, killed himself.
April 12, 2013 –	New River Community College, Christianburg, VA – two injured.
April 13, 2013 –	Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, NC – one injured.
April 15, 2013 –	Grambling State University, Grambling, LA – three injured.
April 16, 2013 –	Stillman College, Tuscaloosa, AL – one injured.
April 18, 2013 –	MIT, Cambridge, MA – MIT police officer Sean Collier, 27, was killed.
April 29, 2013 –	La Salle High School, Cincinnati, OH – one injured.
June 7, 2013 –	Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA – several were injured and six people were killed: Marcela Dia Franco, 26, Carlos Navarro Franco, 68, Margarita Gomez, 68, John Zawahri (the shooter), 23, Samir Zawahri (the shooter’s father), 55, and Christopher Zawahri (the shooter’s brother), 24.
June 19, 2013 –	Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, West Palm Beach, FL – Christopher Marhsall, 48, and Ted Orama, 56, both custodians, were killed.
Aug. 20, 2013 –	Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, Decatur, GA – a gunman fired shots and barricaded himself in an elementary school. No one was injured.
Aug. 22, 2013 –	Westside Elementary School, Memphis, TN – a five-year-old brought a gun to school that went off while in his backpack. No one was injured.
Aug. 23, 2013 –	North Panola High School, Sardis, MS – two were injured and Roderick Bobo, 15, was killed.
Aug. 30, 2013 –	Carver High School, Winston-Salem, NC – one injured.
Sept. 21, 2013 –	Savannah State University, Savannah, GA – Donald Bernard Lewis, 20, was killed.
Sept. 28, 2013 –	Gray-New Gloucester High School, Gray, ME – Gaige McGue, 19, killed himself.
Oct. 4, 2013 –	Agape Christian Academy, Pine Hills, FL – two injured.
Oct. 15, 2013 –	Lanier High School, Austin, TX – Adrian Alvaresz, 16, killed himself.
Oct. 21, 2013 –	Sparks Middle School, Sparks, NV – two were injured and Mike Landsberry, a teacher and Afghanistan veteran, was killed. The shooter, 12-year-old Jose Reyes, killed himself.
Nov. 2, 2013 –	North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, NC – one injured.
Nov. 3, 2013 –	Stephenson High School, Lithonia, GA – one injured.
Nov. 13, 2013 –	Brashear High School, Pittsburgh, PA – three injured.
Nov. 21, 2013 –	South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Rapid City, SD – a professor, Alberto Lemut, 37, killed himself.
Dec. 4, 2013 –	West Orange High School, Winter Garden, FL – one injured.
Dec. 13, 2013 –	Arapahoe High School, Centennial, CO – Claire Davis, 17, and the shooter, Karl Pierson, 18, were killed.
Dec. 19, 2013 –	Edison High School, Fresno, CA – two injured.
Jan. 9, 2014 –	Liberty Technology Magnet High School, Jackson, TN – one injured.
Jan. 14, 2014 –	Berrendo Middle School, Roswell, NM – two injured.
Jan. 15, 2014 –	Martin Luther King Elementary School, Lancaster, PA – shots were fired. No one was injured.
Jan. 17, 2014 –	Delaware Valley Charter School, Philadelphia, PA – two injured.
Jan. 20, 2014 –	Widener University, Chester, PA – one injured.
Jan. 21, 2014 –	Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN – Andrew Boldt, 21, was killed.
Jan. 24, 2014 –	South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, SC – Brandon Robinson, 20, was killed.
Jan. 25, 2014 –	Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles, CA – Ricardo Zetino, 31, was killed.
Jan. 27, 2014 –	Carbondale Community High School, Carbondale, IL – one injured.
Jan. 28, 2014 –	Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN – one injured.
Jan. 28, 2014 –	Grambling State University, Grambling, LA – three injured.
Jan. 30, 2014 –	Eastern Florida State College, Palm Bay, FL – one injured.
Jan. 31, 2014 –	North High School, Des Moines, IA – one injured.
Jan. 31, 2014 –	Cesar Chavez High School, Pheonix, AZ – shooting broke out during a basketball game. No one was injured.
Feb. 8, 2014 –	Bend High School, Bend, OR – Zachary Leyes, 17, killed himself.
Feb. 10, 2014 –	Salisbury High School, Salisbury, NC – one injured.
Feb. 10, 2014 –	Charles F. Brush High School, Lyndhurst, OH – shots were fired during a basketball game. No one was injured.
Feb. 12, 2014 –	Union University, Jackson, TN – Olivia Greenlee, 21, was killed.
Feb. 19, 2014 –	Lovejoy Elementary School, Alton, IL – A man fired a shot at the school building. No one was injured.
Feb. 20, 2014 –	Raytown Success Academy, Raytown, MO – an adult male was killed.
March 2, 2014 –	McDaniel College, Westminster, MD – shots were fired into a dormitory. No one was injured.
March 7, 2014 –	Madison High School, Tallulah, LA – one injured.
March 8, 2014 –	University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Oshkosh, WI – shots were fired during a dance. No one was injured.
March 12, 2014 –	The Academy of Knowledge Preschool, Miami, FL – Michelle Wilcox, 33, was killed by her husband outside the preschool while it was in session.
March 23, 2014 –	University of Delaware, Newark, DE – a man fired a gun in a school parking lot. No one was injured.
March 25, 2014 –	Benjamin Banneker High School, Union City, GA – an argument between students lead to shots being fired. No one was injured.
March 30, 2014 –	Savannah State University, Savannah, GA – a shot was fired in university housing. No one was injured.
April 2, 2014 –	Kent State University, Kent, OH – one injured.
April 7, 2014 –	Eastern New Mexico University, Roswell, Roswell, NM – Marcus Dupree, 22, was killed.
April 9, 2014 –	D.H. Conley High School, Greenville, NC – Two students from another high school fired shots into the school while it was in session. No one was injured.
April 11, 2014 –	East English Village Preparatory Academy, Detroit, MI – Darryl Smith, 19, was killed.
April 21, 2014 –	Saint Mary School, Griffth, IN – Nina Castro, 42, was killed by her husband, Remenard Castro, 55, in the parking lot; he then killed himself.
April 21, 2014 –	Provo High School, Provo, UT – one injured.
April 26, 2014 –	Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs, IA – one injured.
May 2, 2014 –	Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI – one injured.
May 4, 2014 –	Paine College, Augusta, GA – one injured.
May 5, 2014 –	Paine College (again), Augusta, GA – one injured.
May 8, 2014 –	Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA – one injured.
May 8, 2014 –	Georgetown College, Georgetown, KY – one injured.
May 21, 2014 –	Clark Street School, Milwaukee, WI – one injured.
May 23, 2014 –	University of California, Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, CA – Cheng Yuan Hong, 20, George Chen, 19, Weihan Wang, 20, Katherine Cooper, 22, Veronika Weiss, 19, and Christopher Michaels-Martinez, 20, were killed. Elliot Rodger, 22, the gunman, killed himself. Many other students were injured.
June 5, 2014 –	Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington – one 19-year-old student was killed, two others were injured.
June 10, 2014 –	Reynolds High School, Troutdale, OR – one student and the shooter were killed (developing story…)

Note on methodology: In the above list, we sought to give a conservative count. Some lists, like the one on Wikipedia and the one at Everytown For Gun Safety, include shootings that we do not. Our list includes incidents that happened wholly or partially on a school campus while students or staff were there. Our list does not include incidents of law enforcement officers responding with gunfire to a student with a non-firearm weapon, (e.g., if police shoot at a student who is threatening others with a knife). Our list also excludes murders and suicides that did not involve students or staff but occurred on campus while students and staff were not in the building.
(Mother Jones collected portraits and analyzed information on close to 200 children who have died from guns since Newtown) »

The Guns

Number of guns in the US: 310,000,000
Number of guns per person: About one gun for every American
Countries with more guns per person: None
Runner up: Yemen, with about 11 guns for every 20 Yemenis
Percentage of Americans with a gun in their home: 42
State with the highest rate of gun ownership: Wyoming, 61 percent
State with the lowest rate of gun ownership: New Jersey, 10 percent
Number of licensed firearms dealers in the US: 134,997
Number of grocery stores in the US: 37,053

The Money

Total spent by the NRA (2011): $231,071,589
Total spent by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the largest gun control organization (2011): $2,844,489

The Polls

Percentage of Americans that in March 2013 supported an assault weapons ban: 57
and in December 2013: 48
Percentage of Americans that in March 2013 supported background checks for all gun purchases: 91
and in December 2013: 77

The Vote

On April 17th, 2013, the Senate defeated several gun control measures, including the overwhelmingly popular proposal to expand background checks for firearms purchases. Here’s how each senator voted on the bipartisan proposal by Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA) that would have expanded background checks to online sales and sales at gun shows. The measure needed 60 votes to pass.

Yes Votes (54)

Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) Michael Bennet (D-CO) Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Maria Cantwell (D-WA) Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) Thomas R. Carper (D-DE) Bob Casey (D-PA) Susan Collins (R-ME) Christopher A. Coons (D-DE) William Cowan (D-MA) Joe Donnelly (D-IN) Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Al Franken (D-MN) Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Kay Hagan (D-NC)

Tom Harkin (D-IA) Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) Martin Heinrich (D-NM) Tim Johnson (D-SD) Tim Kaine (D-VA) Angus King (I-ME) Mark Steven Kirk (R-IL) Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA) Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) Carl Levin (D-MI) Joe Manchin III (D-WV) John McCain (R-AZ) Claire McCaskill (D-MO) Robert Menendez (D-NJ) Jeff Merkley (D-OR) Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD)

Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT) Patty Murray (D-WA) Jack Reed (D-RI) Bill Nelson (D-FL) John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV) Bernard Sanders (I-VT) Brian Schatz (D-HI) Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) Jon Tester (D-MT) Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA) Mark Udall (D-CO) Tom Udall (D-NM) Mark Warner (D-VA) Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) Ron Wyden (D-OR)

No Votes (46)

Lamar Alexander (R-TN) Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) John Barrasso (R-WY) Max Baucus (D-MT) Mark Begich (D-AK) Roy Blunt (R-MO) John Boozman (R-AR) Richard M. Burr (R-NC) Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) Daniel Coats (R-IN) Tom Coburn (R-OK) Thad Cochran (R-MS) Bob Corker (R-TN) John Cornyn (R-TX) Michael D. Crapo (R-ID) Ted Cruz (R-TX)

Michael B. Enzi (R-WY) Deb Fischer (R-NE) Jeff Flake (R-AZ) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Charles E. Grassley (R-IA) Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT) Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) Dean Heller (R-NV) John Hoeven (R-ND) James M. Inhofe (R-OK) Johnny Isakson (R-GA) Mike Johanns (R-NE) Ron Johnson (R-WI) Mike Lee (R-UT) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Jerry Moran (R-KS)

Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Rand Paul (R-KY) Rob Portman (R-OH) Mark Pryor (D-AR) Harry Reid (D-NV)* Jim Risch (R-ID) Pat Roberts (R-KS) Marco Rubio (R-FL) Tim Scott (R-SC) Jeff Sessions (R-AL) Richard C. Shelby (R-AL) John Thune (R-SD) David Vitter (R-LA) Roger Wicker (R-MS)

*Reid voted no for procedural reasons.

The State Laws

Since Newtown, no fewer than 114 bills were signed into law at the state level, according to an article in Mother Jones. In 22 states, new laws were created to curb gun violence. In 29 states, new laws were enacted making it easier for people to own guns, carry guns in public places and make it more difficult for the government to track guns. See an analysis of gun laws in your state and how it compares to others.