A recent study done by the non-profit Everytown for Gun Safety ranks Mississippi as the second highest in gun violence costs per capita. It finds taxpayers cover more than $307 million each year for related items such as healthcare, emergency transport, police response and incarceration. That’s only a fraction of the total $9.9 billion in fees accrued overall. Patricia Ice is the Mississippi State Legislative Lead with Moms Demand Action, a division of Everytown.
Ice says “We can’t place a value on the costs for families and survivors. But looking at the economic consequences of gun violence can help us understand just how expensive this crisis is.”
On average, around 686 Mississippians die from gun violence each year. Just over half of these deaths are homicide related, and more than 40% are linked to suicide. Ice says there are several policies that could be put in place to curb gun violence in the state, and says sharing the economic implications of gun violence could help influence lawmakers.
She says “I had a Hinds County supervisor approach me and he said ‘If we can just get rid of the permitless carry law here in Jackson alone, that would save a lot of people from getting shot and killed here.”
Since 2011, the rate of gun deaths in Mississippi has risen 56%.
