Gun violence is now a top public health concern for Americans, according to the latest Axios/Ipsos American Health Index poll results. More than a quarter (26%) of Americans see access to guns as the top public health threat.
That’s a nearly 10% increase from February, making it the top threat overall. Concerns about the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl were a close second with 25% of Americans surveyed who said the drug is the nation’s top public health menace.
Ipsos said that the uptick in concern about gun violence follows “several recent mass shootings,” including the mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets in Texas. It also comes as a years-long emergency declaration regarding the COVID-19 pandemic expired this month – only 3% said COVID was a top public health concern.
Following mass shootings last year, including the Uvalde elementary school massacre in Texas, concerns about gun violence also appeared to increase. Audacy reported that sales of body armor increased last summer.
According to a Pew Research Center analysis of the latest U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, more Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2021 than in any other year on record. Nearly 21,000 gun-related homicides were reported that year. Texas had the highest number of overall gun deaths while Mississippi had the highest rate, per the CDC.
This 14.6 gun deaths per 100,000 rate from 2021 was the highest per capita since the early 1990s, but it doesn’t quite reach the 16.3 gun deaths per 100,000 people rate from 1974. Gun death rates in the U.S. are still “much higher than in most other nations, particularly developed nations,” according to Pew.
FiveThirtyEight reported that mass shootings are on the rise this year in the U.S. – the Gun Violence Archive has reported 227 mass shootings and 21 mass murders so far in 2023 – but it noted that “laws expanding gun rights,” are also on the rise.
Groups who are most concerned about gun violence, per the Axios/Ipsos poll, were Democrats (50%), Black Americans (49%) and people who live in urban areas (31%). Republicans were more concerned about opioids and obesity. However, another recent poll found that a vast majority (81%) of GOP voters support background check requirements for gun purchases.
“When it comes to public health priorities, Americans look to their pocketbooks,” said Ipsos. “When asked what the government should prioritize for public health, half of Americans say reducing the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs. The next closest priorities are research into breakthrough cures to major diseases and reducing gun deaths, both distantly behind reducing healthcare costs, at 14%.”
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