New Map Sheds Light on Firearm Suicide Crisis Across California

LOS ANGELES, May 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hope and Heal Fund, a donor collaborative working to reduce firearm-related deaths, injuries, and trauma, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and in partnership with RomoGIS Enterprise, released a new GIS map on California Firearm Suicide from 2016 to 2022. This map compares firearm suicides and homicides by county, enabling community-based organizations and local governments to create targeted strategies for reducing injuries and deaths.

Historically, both firearm suicides and homicides account for 50% of the state's firearm deaths. Despite major investments to curb firearm homicides, efforts allocated to prevent firearm suicides have been substantially low. This disparity highlights the urgent need for this first-of-its-kind map, which allows organizations and governments to integrate data while developing sustainable strategies that address disparities and reduce firearm deaths and trauma.

The GIS map findings reveal that some of California's most rural counties experience three to four times more firearm suicides than the state average (2.97 firearm suicides per 100,000 population). Notably affected are Shasta County (13.74), Butte County (10.06), Humboldt County (9.87), and El Dorado County (8.71).

However, firearm suicide is not confined to the most rural counties alone; highly-populated counties such as Sacramento and San Diego also report rates exceeding the state average. In addition, 14 counties have recorded above-average rates for both firearm homicides and suicides, highlighting the pervasive nature of firearm-related fatalities across rural and urban Californian landscapes.

Brian Malte, Hope and Heal Fund's Executive Director stated, "Our latest findings reveal a critical gap: while some counties have made strides in reducing firearm homicides, the issue of firearm suicides remains largely unaddressed, with some of the largest increases in the Asian American and Black populations. We must expand our strategies to include these often overlooked aspects, ensuring efforts in harm reduction are comprehensive and racially equitable. Each life lost to firearm suicide is a preventable tragedy that devastates families and communities."

Ciciley Moore, Director, Office of the President – Special Initiatives at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, adds, " Hope and Heal Fund centers community in its approach to gathering and disseminating critical data that paints a fuller picture of the root cause of firearm violence and its devastating impacts on children and families. There are real people behind these numbers, and we're proud to support this data that can accelerate efforts to reduce firearm violence through culturally responsive and trauma-informed healing practices."

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SOURCE Hope and Heal Fund