Interactive Everytown Tool Calculates Economic Cost Of Gun Violence For Different Types of Violence in Different States, Underscoring Need For Action

Recent Report Shows States With Strong Gun Safety Laws Spend Less on Repercussions of Gun Violence Than States With Lax Laws

NEW YORK — Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund today released an interactive calculator tool that estimates the economic cost of shootings at the local level, including the cost to taxpayers. The new tool allows lawmakers, reporters, and community members to see how much gun violence continues to cost their communities, adding to the case for immediate action and investment in gun violence prevention. 

Users can learn about the economic consequences of one weekend of gun violence, a mass shooting, or the last year of gun violence in their city. The calculator includes costs starting at the scene of a shooting and subsequent costs such as long-term medical and mental health care, lost earnings and criminal justice costs. 

For example, from Friday to Sunday, July 30 to August 1, six people were shot and killed and nine more were shot and wounded in Indianapolis, Indiana. This one weekend of gun violence had an enormous economic toll in addition to the terrible human cost to families and the community: $44.5 million in total, including $4.4 million in government costs paid by taxpayers.  

“This tool is a reminder of what so many of us have known for so long — the cost of gun violence is far too high,” said Sarah Burd-Sharps, director of research for Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. “You don’t need a calculator to tell you that gun violence is a devastating public health crisis, one taking over 100 lives every day in this country. But when you look at the staggering economic burden from each incident, it becomes clear this public health crisis is also costing cities, states, and communities an exorbitant amount of money — vast funds that could be directed elsewhere if many of these shootings were prevented from occurring. As more and more policymakers are realizing, rather than absorbing these monumental costs through inaction, we should be investing in life-saving programs that prevent violence from happening in the first place.”

Every year, gun violence in the U.S. kills nearly 40,000 people, wounds more than twice as many, and costs our nation $280 billion in an average year. On an average day:

• United States taxpayers pay $34.8 million for medical care, first responders, ambulances, police, and criminal justice services related to gun violence.
• Families directly affected by gun violence face $4.7 million in out-of-pocket costs for medical bills and mental health support and $140.3 million in losses from work missed due to injury or death every day.
• Society loses an estimated $586.8 million per day in intangible costs from the pain and suffering of gun violence victims and their families.
• Employers lose $1.4 million in productivity, revenue, and costs required to recruit and train replacements for victims of gun violence every day.

To see the economic cost of gun violence to families and the government in your state for an average year, go to EveryStat, the interactive, one-stop website for data on gun violence and costs.