UAB Research Highlights Disparities in Unintentional Firearm Deaths Across States

In 2021, 549 deaths were caused by unintentional firearm injuries in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A University of Alabama at Birmingham researcher recently published a paper describing unintentional firearm-related mortality within individual states and factors that might explain disparities found.

David Schwebel, Ph.D., associate vice president for Research Facilities and Infrastructure, used five predictors in his study, which included rurality, non-white population, poverty, population and gun ownership, each predicted by the state. The study used a multivariable regression model to predict unintentional firearm mortalities and concluded that large disparities exist across the 50 states.

States such as Mississippi and Louisiana were found to have the highest rates, while the lowest rates were found in the Northeast, followed by states in the West and Midwest.

“Crude rates in the states with the highest rates, located mostly in the Southeast, were about 10 times the rates in the states with the lowest rates, mostly in the Northeast,” said Schwebel, who is also the director of the UAB Youth Safety Lab. “Across the country, over 12,000 lives were lost to unintentional firearms mortality between 2001 and 2021.”

While other studies have considered disparities in firearm-related mortality, Schwebel’s paper is among the first to look at the disparities in unintentional firearm mortality. His findings show a correlation between mortalities and rurality, poverty and firearm ownership. Schwebel suggests a multifaced prevention approach be used to address the injury and mortality rates.

“Prevention of unintentional firearms mortality is essential nationwide, and efforts should include education and training, policy, and the engineering of safer firearms and firearms storage,” Schwebel said.

The publication was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States Department of Health and Human Services as part of a financial assistance award, R01CE003307. The contents are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS or the United States government.