Study: Guns top cause of US trauma deaths

Americans have lost millions of years of potential life to firearm deaths, overtaking car crashes as the single largest cause of traumatic deaths in 2017 and 2018,  according to a new study.

In 2017, there were 1.44 million years of potential life lost due to firearm deaths, surpassing that of car crashes (1.37 million years), according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open, which said that trend continued in 2018. 

The numbers are based on data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between 2009 and 2018, the most recent years for which data was available. 

A traumatic death is sudden, unexpected and or violent caused by the actions of another person or catastrophe. The study found that suicides accounted for most of the deaths by firearms and those deaths have been in increasing. 

The number of suicides by firearms rose from fewer than 19,000 in 2009 to more than 24,000 in 2018. States with weaker gun laws have higher rates of firearm-related suicides and homicides, the study found.

In the 10 years studied, the largest number of suicides by firearms was in older white males, with 4.95 million years of potential life lost. 

The study found that the South had the most years of potential life lost due to firearms, followed by the Midwest, West and Northeast.

Researchers used the CDC standard formula to calculate years of potential life lost by subtracting the age of death from the standard age of 80, to represent the average US life expectancy of 78.7 years and then added the differences.

The majority of homicide-related firearm deaths were among black men, with 3.2 million years of potential life lost. 

Among women, firearm homicides rose almost 10 percent over the 10 years, and firearm suicides rose over 31 percent.

"Previous studies have shown that firearm ownership, mass shootings, injuries and death are more of a problem in the USA as compared with other developed countries," the researchers wrote. "The demand for total freedom and the Second Amendment have resulted in high access to firearms in this country and this is undisputable."

A study released in January from the non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety indicates there is a direct correlation between weaker gun laws and higher rates of gun deaths, including homicides, suicides and accidental killings.

The group found that California had the strongest gun laws, with a score of 84.5 out of 100.

Hawaii has the lowest rate of gun deaths in the country, with the second strongest gun law score. It also has the lowest rate of gun ownership, with firearms in 9 percent of households.

Mississippi, which has the weakest gun laws with a score of 3 out of 100, has a rate of 28.6 gun deaths per 100,000 residents, the highest of all states, the research showed.