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Non-fatal firearm injuries, 2023

According to the "Firearm Injuries and Deaths in Tennessee" report published by the Tennessee Department of Health, in 2023, a total of 3,936 firearm injuries to Tennessee residents were treated in Tennessee hospitals.

 

  • In 2023, the rate of non-fatal firearm injuries was 55.2 per 100,000 residents.

  • This is slightly higher than the rate in 2022 (51.3 per 100,000 residents) and much higher than the rate in 2016 (40.5 per 100,000 residents).

  • About 28% of the 2023 non-fatal injuries required hospitalization indicating a greater degree of severity. This percentage has remained relatively stable since 2016.

Non-fatal firearm injury intent

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From the "Firearm Injuries and Deaths in Tennessee" report: 

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Since this section of the report is based on hospital data, which focuses on diagnosis and treatment, much of the information surrounding the circumstances and intent of the shooting is unavailable or undeterminable. The intent categories for non-fatal firearm injuries include:

 

  • Accidental discharge of firearm: when an injury occurs while a person is cleaning or playing with a firearm or other incidents of an accidental firing without evidence of intentional harm. This is the default code for firearm injuries in discharge data when intent is not known. A patient who comes in and says, “I was shot,” and gives no additional information about the situation would likely be categorized as accidental.

  • Assault by firearm: when a person causes bodily harm to another person using a firearm and intends to do cause discharge of the weapon.

  • Intentional self-harm by firearm: when a person causes bodily harm to themself using  firearm and intends to do so.

  • Legal intervention involving firearm discharge: when injury is inflicted by the police or

  • other law enforcement agents acting in the line of duty.

  • Firearm discharge of undetermined intent: when there is not enough information to determine whether the intent was one of the above categories; events of undetermined intent may only be coded if documentation in the record specifies that the intent cannot be determined.

Non-fatal firearm injuries resulting in emergency department visits by intent, 2023

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Non-fatal firearm injuries resulting in hospitalization by intent, 2023

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Non-fatal firearm injury intent

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From the "Firearm Injuries and Deaths in Tennessee" report: 

 

A​bout 1.7% of ED visits and 6.4% of hospitalizations for non-fatal firearm injuries were from instances of self-harm; 31.6% of ED visits and 46.0% of hospitalizations were from instances of assault. The remaining injuries are labeled as accidental firearm injuries, firearm injuries due to legal intervention, and firearm injuries of undetermined intent. There were 184 records that were explicitly coded as undetermined intent (about 4.7% of all firearm injuries).

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For more information:

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Additional regional and demographic information on non-fatal firearm injuries and firearm fatalities can be found in the  Department of Health's "Firearm Injuries and Deaths in Tennessee" report.

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