Suicides by firearm in US reached record high in 2022: CDC

Suicides by firearm reached an all-time high in the U.S. last year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The annual U.S. firearm suicide rate was 8.1 per 100,000 in 2022, up from about 7.3 per 100,000 in 2019. According to the CDC, it is the “highest documented level since 1968,” the earliest year by which data is available via the agency’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) system.

The report also found non-Hispanic white people had the highest firearm suicide rate in 2022. Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native people had the highest rate of increase in firearm suicides in between 2019 and 2022. Non-Hispanic Asian or Pacific Islanders had the lowest firearm suicide rate, with an increase of 10 percent, from 1.7 people per 100,000 to 1.9 percent per 100,000 in 2022.

“The persistent upward trend in firearm suicide rates since 2020 across all racial and ethnic groups, coupled with the unprecedented high rates during 2022, highlight the need for continued prevention efforts,” the report read. 

The White House announced in September that it was creating the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to implement existing actions the Biden administration took to reduce gun violence and search for additional actions it could take.

“The president wants us to continue to dig deep and find additional actions we can take,” a senior administration official told reporters at the time, adding that doing so requires additional staff and more coordination with the White House.