Costs of Firearms Violence

1. Costs, Ted R. Miller, PhD, and Mark A. Cohen, PhD, The Textbook of Penetrating Trauma, Rao R. Ivatury, MD, MS, FACS, FRCS, and C. Gene Cayten, MD, MPH, FACS, eds., Williams & Wilkins, 1996, Chapter Five, pp. 49-59.

   Costs attempts to estimate the cost of each gunshot wound and the costs per shooting victim, while also providing national cost estimates. (The authors include an estimate for "lost quality of life" which results in a total much higher than totals found in some other studies on the cost of gun violence.)

   Key Facts:

   • The cost of gunshot wounds in the United States in 1992 exceeded $112 billion�including pain, suffering, and lost quality of life.
   • Medical spending per hospitalized gunshot victim averaged $25,000.
   • Each bullet sold in the United States in 1992 carried an injury price tag of $23�including 60 cents for medical care, $7.20 for lost work, and $15.10 for lost quality of life.

   
   

2. Hospitalization Charges, Costs, and Income for Firearm-Related Injuries at a University Trauma Center, Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH; Mary J. Vassar, RN, MS; et al, JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), Vol. 273, No. 22, June 14, 1995, pp. 1768-1773.

   This study quantifies the cost of inpatient medical care for firearm-related injuries at a university trauma center.

   Key Fact:

   • The cost of providing medical care for firearm injuries in the United States in 1995 is projected to have been $4 billion.

   
   

3. Shooting in the Dark: Estimating the Cost of Firearm Injuries, Wendy Max and Dorothy P. Rice, Health Affairs, Winter 1993, pp. 171-185.

   This article reviews firearm injury costs. It presents detailed estimates that were developed as part of a larger 1985 study and then updates them for the year 1990.

   Key Facts:

   • It is estimated that in 1990 the lifetime economic cost of firearms violence totaled $20.4 billion.
   • This total includes $1.4 billion for direct expenditures, $1.6 billion for lost productivity from injury, and $17.4 billion in lost productivity from premature death.