According to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, concerns and fears about gun violence are widespread in the United States, with many families having been affected by gun-related incidents. Nearly 1 in 5 adults have had a family member killed by a gun, while a similar number have been personally threatened with a gun, and about 1 in 6 adults have witnessed a shooting injury.

This comes in the wake of a recent shooting in Louisville, Kentucky that claimed multiple lives, adding to the escalating trend of mass shootings in the US, with over 146 incidents and 200+ deaths reported so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

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The survey also revealed that about half of all gun-related deaths are suicides, and the suicide rate has been on the rise, reversing years of decline. In fact, there were nearly 49,000 gun-related deaths in 2021, marking a significant increase of about 23% over two years during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The survey found that the vast majority of adults worry about becoming victims of gun violence, with nearly a quarter of parents of children under 18 worrying about it daily or almost daily. Guns have now become the leading cause of death among children and teens in the US, surpassing car accidents in 2020, a statistic that sets the US apart from other comparable countries.

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Disparities in gun-related deaths also exist, with a significantly higher homicide rate among young Black men compared to the overall firearm death rate in the US in 2021, as per recent studies.

The impact of these disparities is felt heavily in the Black community, with Black adults being more than twice as likely as White adults to have lost a loved one to gun violence and witnessed shootings. Black and Hispanic adults also express higher levels of worry about gun violence in their communities, with concerns about gun-related crimes, injuries, and deaths being a constant threat.

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The survey also highlighted concerning trends in gun safety practices, with three-quarters of adults who own guns admitting that their guns are not stored according to common gun-safety practices, such as being kept in unlocked locations or already loaded. Additionally, only a small percentage of adults reported having conversations about gun safety with healthcare professionals.

The latest KFF survey, which collected responses from approximately 1,300 adults in mid-March, sheds light on the widespread concerns and fears about gun violence in the US, as well as the disparities and safety issues associated with firearms.