Counties With Highest Firearm Homicide Rates

Jackson County Has Among Highest Rates In U.S.
Statistics do not tell the whole story or answer every question: "Why are there so many firearm homicides here?" But the stats don't lie. They clearly show that gun violence is prevalent—and that's just a fact—in Jackson County and Missouri. Between 2018 and 2022, the United States averaged 48 firearm homicides per day—one every half-an-hour for half a decade. This around-the-clock bloodshed claimed 88,365 lives across the nation—a rate of 5.4 deaths per 100,000 people. Jackson County’s rate during the same five-year span was more than four times higher. Jackson County’s 22.4 rate paired with St. Louis City’s worst-in-the-nation 48.5 gave our state an unwanted distinction. Missouri and Louisiana were the only states in America with two “Top 10” counties for Highest Firearm Homicide Rates—among the 200-plus American counties, including the District of Columbia, that had populations surpassing 250,000 people.
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Missouri's High Firearm Death Rate

New York Had Triple The Population Of Missouri But  A Third Fewer Firearm Fatalities Between 2018 & 2022
Only Missouri and New Mexico ranked among the "top 10" states in each of these three categories over this five-year period: rates of death per 100,000 people for 1.) all firearm-related fatalities, 2.) firearm-related homicides and 3.) firearm-related suicides. Despite having more than triple the population of Missouri—19.68 million people to 6.18 million (based on 2022 U.S. Census Bureau estimates)—New York State suffered more than a third fewer firearm fatalities (2018-22): 4,799 in New York compared to 6,892 in Missouri. “Firearm violence in America is a public health crisis," the U.S. Surgeon General warned in an official 2024 advisory. "Since 2020, firearm-related injury has been the leading cause of death for U.S. children and adolescents (ages 1-19), surpassing motor vehicle crashes, cancer, and drug overdose and poisoning.”
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How Much The U.S. Stands Out Globally

America Has Highest Firearm Homicide Rate Among 25 'Wealthiest' Nations—And It's Not Even Close
The United Nations (UN) ranked the gun violence rates of more than 200 countries in 2021, and the U.S. had the 27th highest firearm homicide rate—4.3 deaths per 100,000 people. That’s a  small fraction of the rates seen in some Central and South American countries (e.g. El Salvador 40.9 and Venezuela 40.3) . But, "relative to its rich-world peers," America had an appallingly high death rate arising from people shooting other people. Of the world’s 25 wealthiest nations, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) standard for measuring "wealth," America had the worst firearm homicide rate in 2021. That is just a fact. And it wasn’t even close. The U.S. rate was more than twice as high as Saudi Arabia’s… 7½ times higher than Canada’s… 18 times higher than France’s… 30 times higher than Australia’s… 332 times higher than the United Kingdom’s… 863 times higher than Japan’s…
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Nation Reacts To 'Culturally Unfathomable' Shooting

Japan Has Near-Zero Firearm Homicide Rate
An assassin, using a homemade gun, murdered Japan's former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2022. In a nation where the firearm homicide rate is a near world-low 0.005 per 100,000 such a crime was "culturally unfathomable." Describing her personal reaction to the murder, a Japanese woman said, "I think the basic everyday assumption of possible life-threatening danger is different in Japan than the U.S." Japan's National Police agency reported only one firearm homicide in all of 2021. Election campaigns in his country differ significantly from those in the United States, explained Itabashi Isao, chief analyst at the Council for Public Policy, the agency tasked with assessing security risks in Japan. Political leaders are encouraged—like Abe was doing July 8, 2022—to speak to small gatherings on streets that haven't been completely sealed off hours in advance by a large security detail. In Japan, Itabashi told the Associated Press, "The presumption... is that people are not armed."
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A Doctor's Perspective

Doing More Than Patching Bullet Holes
KU Trauma Surgeon Robert Winfield is dedicated to doing more than just patching the holes a bullet leaves behind in his patients. Read his first-person account of treating gunshot wounds: "I remember the day that my perspective on gun violence changed forever. I was the trauma surgeon on call at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. I was making my way through the labyrinthine hallway to the emergency department to see a patient who had been in a car crash, when I was stopped by a nurse who asked, 'Dr. Winfield, did you take care of that kid who got shot in the butt yesterday?' The case had taken place less than 24 hours prior, but was already among the more memorable of the surgeries I had performed in my life."
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Project RISE

Treating All The Wounds A Bullet Inflicts
Even for those fortunate enough to survive a bullet piercing their skin and violating their body, recovering physically might be only half the struggle. “To not address the psychological trauma done to survivors puts them at grave risk,” stresses Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. “That’s something those in the medical profession and those of us in the legal profession are responding to because the odds increase once a person has been shot that they will be shot again—and the next time their wounds might be fatal.” That’s why Peters Baker worked with Truman Medical Center/University Health (TMC/UH) administrators and front-line staff to introduce Project RISE in September of 2019. The Responsive Individual Support and Early intervention program consists of behavioral health professionals, nurses, social workers and chaplains working to make sure people who’ve suffered from gun violence have all the resources needed to fully recover. COMBAT has funded Project RISE from its inception.
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We tend to associate gun violence with homicides—the most serious act of violence. But in Jackson County, from New Year’s Day 2017 through New Year’s Eve 2022, there were also 3,061 non-fatal shootings. COMBAT-funding supports programs toward not only trying to prevent all violence, but also to help these “bullet-to-skin” victims become survivors. These programs focus on treating all the wounds a bullet can inflict, including psychological damage, and on preventing retaliations that only result in more shootings, more victims.