Data on gun violence can be notoriously hard to find and compile. There is no comprehensive national plan for gathering and disseminating firearms use and injury data, according to NORC.
Operations like the Gun Violence Archive aim to fill in the gaps, as I’ve covered before. A new datahub from The Trace is another project hoping to make up for the dearth in gun violence data. The K-12 School Shooting Database tracks school shootings nationally, which this page has also covered.
But there are several federal datasets that cover some important figures. Use the following sets to bolster your reporting and provide context to your audience.
Public health datasets
CDC National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) provides the most complete data on births and deaths in the U.S. Find it here.
CDC Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Report System (WISQARS) collects fatal, nonfatal and cost of injury data. Find it here.
CDC WONDER (National Center for Health Statistics) offers a wide array of public health data, such as causes of death, environmental figures and population statistics. Find it here.
CDC National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) collects information about violent deaths including homicides, suicides, and deaths caused by law enforcement acting in the line of duty. Find it here.
Firearm Injury Surveillance Study or Firearm Injury Surveillance Through Emergency Rooms (FASTER) tracks gunshot injuries via emergency departments.
- Firearm Injury Surveillance Study covers 1993 to 2015.
- FASTER is the present day version.
Crime datasets
FBI Uniform Crime Report (UCR) covers data on all types of crimes, including firearm homicides. Since 1930, participating law enforcement agencies have voluntarily provided statistics through the program.
- The present day version of the UCR
- Historical data covering 1995-2019 crime statistics
FBI Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) covers annual homicide totals.
- Historical data covering 1976-2018 homicide totals.
- This more interactive dataset covers 1980 to 2020.
FBI National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) goes deeper than just a tally of crimes and captures details on each single crime incident — as well as on separate offenses within the same incident. It includes information on victims, known offenders, relationships between victims and offenders, arrestees, and property involved in crimes. Find it here.
FBI Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program offers information about officers who were killed or assaulted while performing their duties. Find it here.
FBI Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection tracks suicides among current and former law enforcement officers, corrections employees, 911 operators, judges, and prosecutors. Find it here.
FBI Law Enforcement Hate Crime Statistics provides information on crimes motivated by offenders’ bias against race, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. These figures are also collected via NIBRS. Find it here.
BJS Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) Program collects information on firearm applications and denials. The dataset combines this information with the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) transaction data to produce an estimated number of background checks since 1994. Find it here.
Nonprofit and private datasets
Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention Data Repository supports research to prevent firearm fatalities and injuries. Find it here.
EveryStat for Gun Safety compiles a wide range of data on gun violence, including firearm homicides, intimate partner homicides, nonfatal firearm injuries and the economic cost of gun violence. Find it here.
The Trace Violent Crimes Data contains data from over 50 police and sheriff departments. Find it here.