Gun Violence Facts

Data from the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) show that gun violence is also a serious problem in Oregon. Firearm-related deaths begin to decline after Oregon enacted a firearm universal background check law in 2015 requiring background checks for all firearm sales, including private sales. The homicide deaths began to climb again during the Covid pandemic when more people bought firearms. The number of suicide deaths began to climb sharply and remains above pandemic levels. The number of firearm-related homicides fell in 2024, the data for suicide in 2024 is not yet available.

Firearm-related homicides and suicides in Oregon, 2000 to 2024

The 2000 to 2004 data are set forth in the Oregon Vital Statistics Annual Report for the year specified, in volume 2, section 6, table 6-30 (in the 2000 report, table 6-29). Click here to view the reports. The 2005 to 2014 data are from Center for Disease Control: Injury and Prevention Control: Data and Statistics (WISQARS) for Oregon. The data from 2015 to 2023 are from the Oregon Health Authority.

Data and graph from Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions:

Oregon State Links

• Oregon Department of Human Services/Injury and Violence Prevention Program
• The Dougy Center, Grief Support for Chidlren and Teens
• Multnomah County Family Violence Coordinating Council

Examine the numbers for yourself at the Center for Disease Control’s website. The WISQARS (Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System) is an easy-to-use, interactive database system that provides customized reports of injury-related data. You can research data by year(s), manner of injury, cause of injury, state or region, race, sex, and age.

The database provides the following information:

These numbers show that gun violence is an enormous public health problem in this country.

National Links

• ASK (Asking Saves Kids)
• Common Sense about Kids & Guns
• Legal Community Against Violence
• Physicians for Social Responsibility
• Speak Up
• States United to Prevent Gun Violence
• Stop the NRA
• Student Pledge Against Gun Violence
• Violence Policy Center

Note: Links to these sites are provided as an educational service by Ceasefire Oregon and the Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation, but are neither part of nor endorsed by Ceasefire Oregon or the Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation. Ceasefire Oregon and the Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation have no control over the content or availability of these sites.

COEF’s Presentations to the Oregon Public Health Association Conference

2019: Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation’s presentation to Oregon Public Health Association, “Educating Healthcare Providers and the Public About the Link Between Firearm Ownership and Suicide.”

The link between suicide and gun ownership is well established.
Miller, Azrael, et al, from the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a
survey of American households in 2002. In states where guns were prevalent—as in Wyoming, where 63 percent of household reported owning guns—rates of suicide were higher. The inverse was also true: where gun ownership was less common, suicide rates were also lower.

Tragically, only 1 of 3 health care practitioners agreed that having a household firearm increases suicide risk. Among health care practitioners who own firearms, 11.8% agreed with this statement.

Providing accurate information about the increased risk of suicide among gun owners is vital to reducing gun death in Oregon, where 82% of all gunshot death is suicide.