2024 Gun Violence Report: Fewer Overall Incidents, but School Deaths and Injuries Are on the Rise

Omnilert, provider of gun detection technology, today released its compilation of Gun Violence Statistics for 2024 summarizing gun violence tragedies and their adverse effects on Americans and the economy. While research showed a decrease in overall deaths and injuries, the rising number of school shootings and fatalities and high number of mass shootings underscored the need to keep more people safe in schools as well as places of worship, healthcare, government, retail and commerce, finance and banking, hospitality and other public places.

The full details and 2024 gun violence statistics are available now. Key results include both encouraging and alarming trends:

  • Gun violence resulted in 40,886 deaths and 31,652 injuries, a 9 percent decrease from 2023. More than 5,200 of those were children and teens.
  • Mass shootings decreased 24 percent from 659 in 2023 to 503 this past year.
  • The number of school shootings in each of the last 4 years is more than 107 percent higher than any year prior to that for the last 25 years. In 2024, there were 330 incidents in schools.
  • The number killed and wounded by guns on K-12 school property increased 7 percent to 267 people, compared to 249 in 2023.

“The fact that there was an overall decrease in deaths and injuries is absolutely a step in the right direction, but the increased numbers in our schools and an average of 112 deaths in the U.S. each day due to gun violence is not acceptable,” said Dave Fraser, CEO of Omnilert. “Every fatality is one too many and with solutions now available to help prevent these tragedies, it is possible to start reversing all the trends if we work together and take a layered approach to mitigating gun violence.”

Hidden Costs of Gun Violence in America
he annual summary also highlighted the growing cost of gun violence to Americans across the country. This represents more than $557 billion annually, which is roughly $1700 per American citizen that could be allocated elsewhere. Two examples include:

  • Losses in revenue and productivity due to firearm injuries is estimated to cost private employers $535 million per year nationwide. Research has shown that one non-fatal firearm injury leads to roughly $30,000 in direct health care spending per survivor in the first year alone.
  • A city like Columbus, Ohio incurs $500 million in expenses per year due to gun violence. A single homicide consumes $2.1 million in tax-paid resources while one non-fatal shooting costs $738,000.

A Layered Approach to Better Protection
As the report called out, no single technology or strategy is effective by itself to curb gun violence. Instead, a layered approach is needed with different solutions working together. This includes technologies such as AI visual gun detection, security personnel and school resource officers, better training and planning, and access controls and perimeter fences, to name a few.

Featured

  • Video Surveillance Trends to Watch

    With more organizations adding newer capabilities to their surveillance systems, it’s always important to remember the “basics” of system configuration and deployment, as well as the topline benefits of continually emerging technologies like AI and the cloud. Read Now

  • New Report Reveals Top Trends Transforming Access Controller Technology

    Mercury Security, a provider in access control hardware and open platform solutions, has published its Trends in Access Controllers Report, based on a survey of over 450 security professionals across North America and Europe. The findings highlight the controller’s vital role in a physical access control system (PACS), where the device not only enforces access policies but also connects with readers to verify user credentials—ranging from ID badges to biometrics and mobile identities. With 72% of respondents identifying the controller as a critical or important factor in PACS design, the report underscores how the choice of controller platform has become a strategic decision for today’s security leaders. Read Now

  • Overwhelming Majority of CISOs Anticipate Surge in Cyber Attacks Over the Next Three Years

    An overwhelming 98% of chief information security officers (CISOs) expect a surge in cyber attacks over the next three years as organizations face an increasingly complex and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital threat landscape. This is according to new research conducted among 300 CISOs, chief information officers (CIOs), and senior IT professionals by CSC1, the leading provider of enterprise-class domain and domain name system (DNS) security. Read Now

  • ASIS International Introduces New ANSI-Approved Investigations Standard

    • Guard Services
  • Cloud Security Alliance Brings AI-Assisted Auditing to Cloud Computing

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today introduced an innovative addition to its suite of Security, Trust, Assurance and Risk (STAR) Registry assessments with the launch of Valid-AI-ted, an AI-powered, automated validation system. The new tool provides an automated quality check of assurance information of STAR Level 1 self-assessments using state-of-the-art LLM technology. Read Now

New Products

  • Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.

    Connect ONE®

    Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions.