Racial and Ethnic Differences In Non-Fatal Firearm Injuries, United States, 1993-2017 (ICPSR 39088)
Version Date: Dec 2, 2025 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Bindu Kalesan, Boston University. School of Medicine;
Sandro Galea, Boston University
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR39088.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
Although there has been much national discussion, both in scientific literature and popular press, and a growing scientific literature about firearm deaths, much less attention has been paid to non-fatal firearm injury that constitutes 70 percent of the victims of firearm violence. While rates of national fatal firearm mortality rates have stayed more or less stable in the U.S. since the turn of the twenty-first century, the rates of non-fatal firearm injury have, however, increased, driving the epidemic of firearm violence. Rates of non-fatal firearm injuries are inconsistent across the country, with substantial spatial heterogeneity changing over time.
The goal of this project was to understand the drivers of non-fatal firearm injury in order to guide efforts that may reduce related injuries. This study included four aims of analysis:
- Document the state-specific (spatial) differences and the changes across time (temporal) of non-fatal firearm injury among all, by racial-ethnic groups and intents of injury.
- Assess the state-level factors that influence these changes such as state-specific firearm laws and social characteristics (e.g., minority proportion, rates of unemployment, income inequality, suicide, divorce, firearm ownership, alcohol consumption, drug use, and non-firearm homicide).
- Determine the individual socio-demographic and clinical factors that drive both spatial and time trends.
- Determine if individual factors modify the spatio-temporal patterns of non-fatal firearm injury, and whether this explains racial-ethnic and intent differences.
The resulting datasets are at state-level analysis.
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Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
State
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this study was to understand the drivers of non-fatal firearm injury in order to guide efforts that may reduce related injuries.
Study Design View help for Study Design
Data were initially collected at both state and individual-level from multiple sources before aggregating.
State-level Data Source(s):
Individual-level Data Source(s): Age, gender, income, type of primary insurance, the state where the hospital is, presence of multi-morbidity, history of alcoholism, history of drug use, non-fatal firearm injury, race/ethnicity, and firearm injury intent information was extracted from National Inpatient Sample (NIS), Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS).
Users should note that the Trace The Guns link provided above is no longer active at the time of this release.
The final datasets included in the study only contain aggregated state-level data sets with state-specific characteristics.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
States of the United States.
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
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Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
This study included state-level information on:
Notes
These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
ICPSR usually offers files in multiple formats for researchers to be able to access data and documentation in formats that work well within their needs. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR’s Accessibility Center.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.