The most lethal form of violence is gun violence. For every firearm death, there are an estimated 4 nonfatal firearm injuries, many resulting in severe disabilities. The dramatic increase in the US homicide rate from 1985 to 1993 was due to a steady increase in firearm homicides, especially handgun homicides.
International comparisons reveal that gun death rates increase along with gun ownership.
Data from 14 countries, as well as Australia, Canada, and the United States, show that gun ownership is significantly associated both with the rate and proportion of homicides and suicides committed with a gun. The higher firearm homicide rates in the United States are largely due to handguns. These risks are statistically significant and most of the risk is related to handguns. Thus, handguns pose a particular danger, though they are not the most common or the most powerful guns. Physicians have been crucial to success in reducing the toll of other scourges, such as polio, cigarette smoking, and motor vehicle injuries.