Ten Years of Tennessee Gun Deaths
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Gun deaths are on the rise in Tennessee, and continue to outpace the U.S. average in three key categories:
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Firearm fatalities, which include all forms of fatal gun violence.
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Firearm homicides, which include all murders committed with a firearm.
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Firearm suicides, which include any completed suicide committed with a firearm.
Below are a series of charts that visualize the data in these three categories.
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The data is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Fatal Injury Reports from 2011 to 2021, the most recent year fatal injury data is available.
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Each category is divided between all ages and ages 0-17.
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11th for firearm fatalities, all ages
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7th for firearm homicides, all ages
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17th for firearm suicides, all ages
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9th for firearm fatalities, ages 0-17
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5th for firearm homicides, ages 0-17
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21st for firearm suicides, ages 0-17
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Firearm fatalities include all forms of fatal gun violence: all violence-related fatal shootings, including homicides, fatal domestic violence shootings, and legal intervention, as well as firearm suicides, unintentional shootings, and shootings where the intent or motive is undetermined.
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Based on this data, on average, 4.3 Tennesseans die every day from gun violence, or one person every 5.6 hours.
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Between 2011 and 2021, the rate of firearm fatalities in Tennessee increased 58 percent for all ages and 180 percent for ages 0-17.​
Firearm homicides include any murder committed with a firearm, whether the murder is the result of an altercation, a domestic situation, a road rage shooting, or during the commission of a criminal act, such as an armed robbery or retaliatory shooting.
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The number of Tennesseans who were fatally shot in a homicide more than doubled from 2011 to 2021 for both adults and children.
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Between 2011 and 2021, the rate of firearm homicide in Tennessee increased 120 percent for all ages and 155 percent for ages 0-17.
Notation: ** indicates unstable value (<20 deaths); -- indicates suppressed value (between one to nine deaths)
Firearm suicides include any completed suicide where a gun was used. Firearm suicides are unique in both their impulsivity and their lethality. Unlike other methods of suicide, firearm suicides take little planning and are almost always successful.
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In 2021, a record number of Tennesseans used a gun to commit suicide.
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On average, 2.2 Tennesseans take their own life with a gun every single day.
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Over half of all gun deaths in Tennessee are suicides.
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Between 2011 and 2021, firearm suicides in Tennessee increased 29 percent.
Notation: ** indicates unstable value (<20 deaths); -- indicates suppressed value (between one to nine deaths)