from POWER POINT (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2024)
winner, 2025 National Press Women Communications Prize
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POINT BLANK. Comprehensive Gun Violence-Related Deaths (per 100K population) 2021: US 6.0; Chile 4.52; Saudi Arabia 3.0; France 2.7; Canada 2.1; remaining peer nations range from UK at 0.2 to Italy at 1.4. Child and Teen Firearms-Related Deaths 2021: US 6, Peer Countries 0.2.
The poem's data is rendered inside the silhouette of a handgun. Here are the numbers directly — by country, by victim age, and over time.
This poem also has a fully animated, interactive version →
Data year: 2021
| Country | Gun deaths per 100,000 population | |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 0.03 | |
| UK | 0.2 | |
| Spain | 0.6 | |
| Netherlands | 0.5 | |
| Germany | 0.9 | |
| Australia | 1 | |
| Italy | 1.4 | |
| Canada | 2.1 | |
| France | 2.7 | |
| United States | 6 |
Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease 2021. High-income nations with population >10 million. All-cause firearm mortality (suicide + homicide + unintentional).
Data year: 2020–2021
| Country | Firearm deaths per 100,000 (ages <18) | |
|---|---|---|
| UK | 0.04 | |
| Germany | 0.2 | |
| Australia | 0.3 | |
| Canada | 0.5 | |
| Peer country average | 0.2 | |
| United States | 6 |
Source: KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), "Child and Teen Firearm Mortality in the U.S. and Peer Countries," July 2023; CDC.
In 2020, firearms surpassed vehicle crashes to become the #1 cause of death for US children and teens.
Data year: 2022
| Type | Share of 48,117 deaths | |
|---|---|---|
| Suicide | 54% | |
| Homicide | 43% | |
| Unintentional | 3% |
Source: CDC, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, WISQARS Data, 2022.
Total 2022 US firearm deaths: 48,117. More than half are by suicide — a fact often missing from gun violence coverage.
Data year: 2018–2023
| Year | Total US gun deaths | |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 39,740 | |
| 2019 | 39,707 | |
| 2020 | 45,222 | |
| 2021 | 48,830 | |
| 2022 | 48,117 | |
| 2023 | ~45,000 |
Source: CDC, WISQARS; Everytown Research & Policy. 2023 figures are preliminary.
About This Poem
'Point Blank' renders comprehensive gun violence data inside the silhouette of a handgun, showing the US leads peer nations by orders of magnitude. The "magazine" spread layout of the poem borrows from the info-graphic aesthetic. The use of bright primary colors, specifically red, white, and blue, is evocative of action and patriotic themes. The symbolic "red line" is a nod to a thermometer hitting the boil. An earlier version of this poem was first published in Writers Resist.
Data Sources