By Dave Workman
The nation with the highest total gun deaths—in spite of what you may have read or heard—is not the United States.
According to a report at How Stuff Works, basing its findings on data from the past, it’s Brazil, where more than 49,000 gun-related deaths were reported in 2019. And, as this report noted, “Determining what country has the most gun violence depends on how you measure it, whether by total gun deaths or gun death rates per 100,000 people.
“Globally,” the narrative added, “firearm violence varies widely between countries and is shaped by factors like gun laws, economic conditions and access to firearms. While some nations have the highest total gun deaths, others have the highest rates of firearm homicide.”
The How Stuff Works report acknowledges “The United States stands out among high-income countries for its high rates of firearm mortality. It has one of the highest gun death rates compared to peer countries and leads in civilian gun ownership.
“Nearly two-thirds of firearm deaths are suicides,” the report adds, “while gun homicide rates remain significantly higher than in other high income nations.”
Then, along comes World Population Review, again apparently relying on 2019 data, noting that Mexico has a far higher gun death rate than the U.S. (17.23 per 100,000, opposed to 4.42 per 100,000, with Brazil at 5.81 per 100,000). The data shows Mexico recorded 22,355 homicides for that year, Brazil racked up 12,266 and the U.S. reported 15,186.
At this point, shouldn’t someone ask if the victims are any less dead in a lower-income nation than a so-called “high-income country.”
Last month, Pew Research reported 44,447 gun-related fatalities in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available. The data comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Of these deaths, Pew says “62% of all gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (27,593), while 35% were homicides (15,364). The rest involved law enforcement (636), were accidental (450) or had undetermined circumstances (404); each of these categories accounted for around 1% of all gun deaths, according to CDC data.”
While Gun Ownership Climbed
According to 2 Minute Medicine, “Firearm purchasing in the United States increased substantially beginning in early 2020, coinciding with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and appeared to taper by late 2023.”
Information found online estimated that 29.8 million U.S. adults acquired firearms between 2021 and 2024. This includes more than 11 million first-time gun buyers.
And Pew Research noted, “The number of gun homicides fell from a record 20,958 in 2021 to 15,364 in 2024, a 27% decrease.”
Translation: While data indicates gun-related homicides have declined, more people own guns.
However, there is an interesting caveat found at the Legal Reader. While firearms ownership increased 26 percent between 2000 and 2024, “Democrat gun ownership fell by 31.8% between 2007 and 2025.”
Republican gun ownership declined by 18.4 percent. Did gun-related violence decline because fewer Democrats owned guns?
The Legal Reader report also noted “A massive influx of new owners…between 2021 and 2024,” adding that new gun owners “are increasingly likely to be women and individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups, diversifying the traditional gun-owning demographic.”
All of this data may raise questions about the veracity of gun prohibitionists’ arguments favoring gun bans and other restrictive measures clamping down on Second Amendment rights.
Could it possibly be they’ve been wrong?
