Analysis of CDC data shows Missouri fourth in nation for 2018 gun-death rate

The State of Missouri had the fourth-highest gun-death rate in the nation in 2018, according to a new analysis conducted by the Violence Policy Center, a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury.

According to a news release from the organization, the VPC’s findings were obtained using recently-released Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (or WISQARS) data from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control for overall gun-death rates in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available.

According to CDC firearm mortality data, 1,311 firearm deaths occurred in Missouri in 2018.

The VPC analysis of the data listed the State of Missouri as having the fourth-highest gun-death rate nationwide in 2018, up two positions from sixth-highest in 2016 and 2017.

Missouri had a 21.4 gun-death rate per 100,000 people in 2018, according to the VPC analysis, which listed the state’s household gun ownership rate at 42.2%.

CDC data showed the total number of Americans killed by gunfire in 2018 to be 39,740, which is slightly lower than the previous year’s total of 39,773, but still higher than the 2016 total of 38,658.

The national gun-death rate also decreased slightly, going from a rate of 12.23 in 2017 to a rate of 12.15 in 2018.

The 2018 numbers for Missouri are fairly consistent with CDC data listed for the previous year, which reported 1,307 firearm deaths in Missouri and a gun-death rate of 21.5 in 2017.

Cape Girardeau County deputy coroner David Taylor said the 2018 numbers reflect what he has seen in the field, and described the number of local gun-related deaths as “far too many.”

Local gun-death rates since 2018 have not drastically increased or decreased in frequency, according to Taylor, but many of the gun-related deaths he sees are not necessarily criminal in nature.

Basing his opinion on what he understands from other Missouri coroners, gun-death rates have not grown by any immense amounts in smaller, rural counties in Missouri but the gun-death rates have tended to be growing by “leaps and bounds” in larger cities.

Mississippi, Alabama and Wyoming were the only states with higher gun-death rates than Missouri in 2018, according to the VPC analysis.

In 2018, Mississippi ranked highest with a gun-death rate of 22.8 and a household gun ownership rate of 50.9%.

Alabama ranked second with a gun death rate of 21.77 and a household gun ownership rate of 48.3%, and Wyoming ranked third with a gun-death rate of 21.46 and a household gun ownership rate of 68.8%.

Texas, California and Florida have consistently logged the highest numbers for total firearm deaths every year since 2016, but the states maintained lower death rates per 100,000 people due to their large populations.

Rhode Island ranked lowest for overall gun-death rates in 2018 with a gun-death rate of 3.5 and a household gun ownership rate of 15%.

Massachusetts ranked second-lowest with a gun-death rate of 3.74 and a household gun ownership rate of 12.5%, and Hawaii ranked third-lowest with a gun-death rate of 4.15 and a household gun ownership rate of 10.4%.

In their Monday news release, VPC officials stated the analysis shows “states with the highest rates of overall gun death in the nation are those with weak gun violence prevention laws and higher rates of gun ownership” and “states with the lowest overall gun death rates have some of the strongest gun violence prevention laws in the nation.”

State gun ownership rates were obtained from an article written by Aaron J. Kivisto and published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine in July, according to the VPC release, which described the article as “the most recent comprehensive published data available on state gun ownership.”

The VPC defined states with “weak” gun violence prevention laws as those that add little or nothing to federal law, and have permissive laws governing the open or concealed carrying of firearms in public.

The overall gun-death rates included data for gun homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings, the release stated. State gun-death rates were calculated by dividing the number of gun deaths by the total state population and multiplying the result by 100,000 to obtain the rate per 100,000 people, which is the standard and accepted method for comparing fatal levels of gun violence, according to the VPC.