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Gun Violence in Illinois
  • From 1999 to 2005 guns killed 8,018 Illinois residents.1
     
  • In 2005, 1,019 people died from firearm-related injuries in Illinois, 569 of which were homicides.2, 3
     
  • In 2005, African Americans were victims in 42% or 429 of firearm-related deaths in Illinois. Of these deaths, 90% were homicides. 4
     
  •  In 2005, guns were used in 424 suicides in Illinois, a 10% increase from 2004. 81% of these suicides were committed by white males.5
     
  • In Illinois, from 1999-2005, 37 children and youth in Illinois died from unintentional gunshot wounds.6
          
  • In 2005, 130 children aged 0-19 in Illinois were killed by guns, 13% more deaths than 2004. From 1999 to 2005, 1,039 children have been killed by guns in Illinois.7
     
  • The 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (grades 9-12) found that 5% of Chicago high school students reported having carried a gun in the last 30 days.8
     
  • From 2002 to 2006, 687 Chicago youth were killed by guns.9
     
  • In 2005, 92% of Chicago youth killed by firearms involved handguns.10
     
  • In 2005, firearms were the primary weapon used in violent deaths in Kane, Cook, and Peoria counties. Firearms account for more violent deaths than all other means combined.11
     
  • In 2005, 71% (435) of homicides and 36% (164) of suicides were committed with firearms in Kane, Cook, and Peoria counties.12
     
  • Firearms were used as a weapon in 10 out of 14 murder-suicide incidents in Kane, Cook, and Peoria counties in 2005, or 70% of the time. Children witnessed or were present at eight of the 14 murder-suicide incidents, or 57% of the time.13

Gun Violence Nationwide
  • Firearm injuries are the second leading cause of injury-related deaths nationwide, surpassed only by motor vehicle injuries.14
     
  • In 2005, 30,694 Americans were killed with firearms – in homicides, suicides and unintentional shootings. The number of gun deaths has increased by 6% since 1999.15
     
  • In 2005, 69,825 Americans were treated in hospital emergency departments for non-fatal gunshot wounds.16
     
  • Children and young people under the age of 25 constituted over 40% of all firearm deaths and injuries in 2001.17
     
  • Every day in the U.S., guns cause the deaths of 20 children and young people under the age of 25.18
     
  • In 2007, 35% of teens nationwide reported that they knew someone who had been shot.19
     
  • Last year, 56% of teens nationwide reported that they believe the government wouldn’t care if they were a victim of gun violence20
     
  • The overall firearm-related death rate among U.S. children under age 15 is nearly 12 times higher than it is in 25 other industrialized nations combined.21
     
  • African Americans make up 13% of the U.S. population,22but in 2001 suffered almost 25% of all firearm deaths – and 52% of all firearm homicides.23
     
  • Firearm homicide is the leading cause of injury-related death for African Americans ages 15-34.24
     
  • White males, accounted for about 40% of the U.S. population,25
    and 80% of firearm suicides in 2001.26
     
  •  Once all the direct and indirect medical, legal and societal costs are factored together, the annual cost of gun violence in America amounts to $100 billion.27
     
  • States with higher rates of household gun ownership have significantly higher homicide victimization rates for men, women and children.28
     
  • Homicides and aggravated assault with a firearm both increased by 10% from 2004 to 2006.29
1 2005 is the most recent year for which state-level data is available on National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Injury Mortality Reports, 1999-2005
 2 Id.
3 Id.
4 Id.
 5 Id.
6 Id.
7 Id.
 8 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance – United States 2005, MMWR 2006; Vol. 55,No. SS05, Table 7
9 Illinois Violent Death Reporting System, “Issue Brief: Chicago Youth and Violence.” January 2008.
10 Id.
11 Illinois Violent Death Reporting System (IDVRS), Volume 1, Issue 1 – August 2007. Children’s Memorial Research Center.
12 Id.
13 Id.
14 National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Vital Statistics Reports, Deaths: Final Data for 2003, Vol. 54, No. 13, p. 10, April 19, 2006
15 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Injury Mortality Reports, 1999-2005
16 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Nonfatal Injury Reports
17 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Injury Mortality Reports, 1999-2005; National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Nonfatal Injury Reports
18 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Injury Mortality Reports, 1999-2005
 19UCAN Teen Gun Survey Results, 2005-2007 Comparison.
 20 Id.
 21 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rates of Homicide, Suicide, and Firearm-Related Death Among Children--26 Industrialized Countries, MMWR Weekly, Vol. 46, No.5, Feb. 7, 1997
 22 Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, The Black Population: 2000, Census 2000 Brief, Aug. 200
 23 National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Injury Mortality Reports, 1999-2005
 24 Id.
 25Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, The White Population: 2000, Census 2000 Brief, Aug. 2001 at 3
 26 Id.
 27 Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, Gun Violence: The Real Costs, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, 115.
28 Matthew Miller, David Hemenway, and Deborah Azrael, State-level homicide victimization rates in the U.S. in relation to survey measures of household firearm ownership, 2001 -2003, Social Science & Medicine 64 (2007) 656-664.
29 Police Executive Research Forum, Violent Crime in America: 24 Months of Alarming Trends, March 2007