In 2016, there were 44,965 total suicides in the U.S., with 51.01% of these suicides being completed by gun, and a notable 77.23% of suicides were male. Additionally, there were 19,362 murders, with firearms accounting for 74.45% of these cases; the data showed a 3.39 ratio of male to female suicides. An analysis highlighted disparities in suicide and murder rates across different racial and gender groups, emphasizing the severe impact of firearms in both contexts.

1. 2016 National Vital Statistics Reports
Suicide and murder
comparison for 2016
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_06.pdf
Richard Gardner
August2019
44,965 total suicides 100%
34,727 male suicide 77.23%
10,238 female suicide 22.77%
36,531 white suicides 81.24%
28,110 white male suicides 62.52%
8,421 white female suicides 18.73%
2,676 blacksuicides 5.95%
2,137 blackmale suicides 4.75%
539 blackfemale suicides 1.20%
580 Indianor AlaskaNative suicides 4.98%
441 Indianor AlaskaNative male suicides 0.98%
139 Indianor AlaskaNative female suicides 0.31%
1,363 asian/pacificislandersuicides 3.03%
977 asian/pacificislandermale suicides 2.17%
386 asian/pacificislanderfemalesuicides 0.86%
3,668 hispanicsuicides 8.16%
2,944 hispanicmale suicides 6.55%
724 hispanicfemale suicides 1.61%
19,362 murders 38,658 firearm deaths in 2016
14,415 gun murders74.45% of all murders For males the age-adjusted death rate for injury by firearms was 6.1 times the rate for females.
495 accidental gun deaths
There were 1.9 times more gun suicides than asphyxiation suicides, the next most common method.
44,965 total suicides 51.01 percent of suicides completed by gun
22,938 gun suicides
11,642 suicides by suffocation, hanging and strangulation 3.39 ratio of male to female suicides
6,698 suicides by poisoning

2. 22,938 gun suicides 100%
19,647 male suicidesbyguns 85.65%
3,291 female suicidesbygun 14.35%
19,699 white suicidesbygun 85.88%
16,811 white malessuicidesbyguns 73.29%
2,888 white female suicidesbygun 12.59%
1,350 blacksuicidesbygun 5.89%
1,171 blackmale suicidesbygun 5.11%
179 blackfemale suicidesbygun 0.78%
200 Indianor AlaskaNative suicidesbygun 0.87%
172 Indianor AlaskaNative male suicidesbygun 0.75%
28 Indianor AlaskaNative female suicidesbygun 0.12%
333 asian/pacificislandersuicidesbygun 1.45%
295 asian/pacificislandermale suicidesbygun 1.29%
38 asian/pacificislanderfemalesuicidesbygun 0.17%
1,313 hispanicsuicidesbygun 5.72%
1,158 hispanicmale suicides bygun 5.05%
155 hispanicfemale suicidesbygun 0.68%
19,362 total murders 100% of total murders
15,467 malesmurdered 79.88%
3,895 femalesmurdered 20.12%
5,600 total whitesmurdered 28.92%
3,766 white malesmurdered 19.45%
1,834 white femalesmurdered 9.47%
9,860 total blacksmurdered 50.92%
8,352 total black malesmurdered 43.14%
1,328 total black femalesmurdered 6.86%
279 Indianor AlaskaNative murdered 1.44%
209 Indianor AlaskaNative malesmurdered 1.08%
70 Indianor AlaskaNative femalesmurdered 0.36%

3. 365 asian/pacificislandersmurdered 1.89%
244 asian/pacificislandermalesmurdered 1.26%
121 asian/pacificislanderfemalesmurdered 0.62%
3,187 hispanicsmurdered 16.46%
2,657 hispanicmalesmurdered 13.72%
530 hispanicfemalesmurdered 2.74%
14,415 murderedbyguns 74.45% 100% by gun
12,213 malesmurderedbyguns 63.08% 84.72%
2,202 femalesmurderedbyguns 11.37% 15.28%
3,370 total whitesmurderedbyguns 17.41% 23.38%
2,412 white malesmurderedbyguns 12.46% 16.73%
958 white femalesmurderedbyguns 4.95% 6.65%
8,343 total blacksmurderedbyguns 43.09% 57.88%
7,490 total black malesmurderedbyguns 38.68% 51.96%
853 total black femalesmurderedbyguns 4.41% 5.92%
152 Indianor AlaskaNativesmurderedbyguns 0.79% 1.05%
119 Indianor AlaskaNative malesmurderedby
guns
0.61% 0.83%
33 Indianor AlaskaNative femalesmurderedby
guns
0.17% 0.23%
230 asian/pacificislandersmurderedbyguns 1.19% 1.60%
166 asian/pacificislandermalesmurderedbyguns 0.86% 1.15%
64 asian/pacificislanderfemalesmurderedby
guns
0.33% 0.44%
2,287 hispanicsmurderedbyguns 11.81% 15.87%
1,996 hispanicmalesmurderedbyguns 10.31% 13.85%
291 hispanicfemalesmurderedbyguns 1.50% 2.02%

4. Non- Non- Indian
or
Asian/
Total Hispanic Hispanic Alaska Pacific Hispanic
MALE Male white black Native Islander
Intentional self-harm(suicide) 21.4 26.6 10.6 33.1 10.2 10.9 rate per100,000
poisoning 2.0 2.6 0.7 1.9 0.9 0.7
hanging,strangulationand
suffocation
5.7 6.7 2.8 16.0 4.4 4.5
firearms 12.0 15.4 5.8 13.2 3.1 4.5
Assault(homicide) 9.9 3.9 40.4 15.8 2.5 8.6
Assault(homicide) byfirearms 7.8 2.5 35.2 9.0 1.7 6.3
suicide +homicide 31.3 30.5 51.0 48.9 12.7 19.5
suicide andhomicide byfirearm 19.8 17.9 41.0 22.2 4.8 10.8
Non- Non- Indian
or
Asian/
Total Hispanic Hispanic Alaska Pacific Hispanic
FEMALE female white black Native Islander
Intentional self-harm(suicide) 6.0 7.9 2.4 10.3 3.7 2.6
poisoning 1.9 2.6 0.6 2.0 0.7 0.7
hanging,strangulationand
suffocation
1.6 1.9 0.7 5.7 1.9 0.9
firearms 1.9 2.7 0.8 2.1 0.4 0.5
Assault(homicide) 2.5 1.8 6.0 5.2 1.1 1.8
Assault(homicide) byfirearms 1.4 1.0 3.8 2.4 0.6 1.0
suicide +homicide 8.5 9.7 8.4 15.5 4.8 4.4
suicide andhomicide byfirearm 3.3 3.7 4.6 2.3 1.0 1.5

5. Summary
7.46 white male suicides/white malesmurdered
6.97 white male suicide bygun/white malesmurderedbygun
4.46 white males suicidebygun/total whitemalesmurdered
1.59 all groupssuicide bygun/murderedbygun
1.36 all groupsratio of suicide bygun/total murdered
0.18 blackmale suicide bygun/blackmalesmurderedbygun
5.55 ratioof blackmales murderedbygun/blackmalessuicide bygun
1.45 Indianor AlaskaNative male suicide bygun/indigenousmalesmurderedbygun
1.78 asian/pacificislandermale suicidebygun/asian/pacificislandermalesmurderedbygun
0.58 hispanicmale suicide by gun/hispanicmalesmurderedbygun
1.72 hispanicmalesmurderedbygun/hispanicmalessuicide bygun
1.49 female suicidebygun/female murderedbygun
3.01 white female suicidebygun/white female murderedbygun
37.39% white malessuicidebygun/total suicides
51.01% suicide bygun/total suicide
6.86 timesas manymurdersby gunthan by the second
mostcommon method,knivesorothersharpobjects,in2016.