Epidemiological analysis of fatal and non-fatal firearm injuries occurring in gun establishments in the United States, 2015-2022.

Abstract

Background: Firearm-related injury represents a significant public health problem in the USA. Firearm purchasing has risen nationwide and there has been increased efforts to deploy injury prevention initiatives within gun establishments. However, firearm-related risks and harms that may occur inside these high-exposure settings are not well characterized.

Methods: This secondary analysis leveraged Gun Violence Archive data to quantify firearm injury prevalence rates within different types of gun establishments from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2022. Data were restricted to incidents that occurred in gun ranges, gun shops, and public and private ranges. The following incident characteristics were available in the individual-level data: date, location, injury count, fatality count, victim demographics (age, sex), shooting intent (suicide/self-inflicted, assault/homicide, unintentional, undetermined) and establishment type.

Results: Over 7 years, 445 non-fatal and 183 fatal shooting events occurred across 576 unique establishments. Non-fatal, unintentional injuries predominated in stand-alone firing ranges whereas fatal, self-inflicted injuries concentrated in retail shops with accompanying firing ranges. Firearm-related assaults were prevalent among stand-alone retail shops.

Conclusion: Overall, this secondary analysis underscores that the prevalence of firearm injury in gun establishments across the USA is low, and these settings should continue to be studied as important contexts for intervention. Interweaving public health interventions into gun establishments presents an opportunity to potentially reduce associated harms to consumers interacting within these environments.