Report Highlights: More than 50 million U.S. households have at least one firearm. There’s an average of 40,000 firearm-related deaths annually.
- According to recent surveys, 81% of gun owners and 57% of non-gun owners feel safer with a firearm in the home.
- Four in ten U.S. households have at least one firearm (out of 129 million, equalling at least 51.6 million households)
- 55% of homicides where the victim dies at home are firearm-related.
- 0.002% of children who were in a home with a loaded and unsecured firearm were killed in an accidental shooting incident between 2003 and 2021.
The Statistics: Does Having a Gun in Your Home Make You Safer?
Approximately half of American households have at least one firearm. Although reasons for owning firearms vary, Americans report owning them for self-defense more than any other reason.
Let’s take a look at why the vast majority of gun owners keep at least one for personal protection:
-
In 2023, there were 8,351 homicides in U.S. households. Approximately 55% (4,593) of those involved firearms.
-
Approximately 0.007% of U.S. households experienced firearm-related homicides in 2023.
-
Conservative estimates indicate that defensive gun uses are 3.8 times more likely to occur in a home than a firearm-related homicide. An estimated 70,000 defensive gun uses occur annually.
-
An estimated 33.4% (14,966/44,880) of suicides occurred in a home and with a firearm in 2023 (63.5% occurred at home; 52% of all suicides involve guns). This estimate assumes firearm use is evenly distributed across all locations, which may not reflect actual patterns.
-
Conservative estimates suggest that guns in the home are used in acts of self-defense 1.17 times more often as they are involved in suicides.
This data highlights the complex role firearms play in American households, contrasting perceived risk with actual benefits. Estimates suggest that defensive gun uses occur at higher rates in the home than firearm-related homicides or suicides.
Continue reading Guns in the Home: 2025 Statistics on Ammo.com
https://ammo.com/articles/guns-in-the-home-statistics#gun-accidents-percentage-home-statistics