Gun Violence Costs New York Over $5.6 Billion A Year, Study Finds

The issue of gun violence has been haunting federal agencies in the United States for quite some time. According to reports, 90 mass shootings happened in the U.S. between 1966 and 2012, and in a dubious feat, the nation stood first with the most number of mass shootings in the world during the same period.

This disturbing trend not just comes with a social cost but has an alarming impact on the country’s economy as well.

According to a recent study by Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence — a group founded by former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, gun violence costs New York more than $5.6 billion a year.

It may be noted that New York is one of the states with the lowest gun death rate in the country, thanks to a strong gun violence prevention law.

The analysis was done based on data collected from the Centers for Disease Control. The research team found that on an average, New York witnessed 432 gun-related homicides, 473 gun-related suicides, 1,499 nonfatal shootings, and 105 accidental shootings per year.

The fact sheet released recently by the organization showed that around 2,747 shootings occur each year in New York and they “are a serious drain on the state’s economy.”

The analysis found the state spends $2.1 billion in direct expenses each year, which includes $106 million per year on health care, $203 million for law enforcement and criminal justice expenses, $12 million in costs to employers, and $1.7 billion in lost income. In addition to this, it has to bear an addition $3.6 billion resulting from fall in quality of life due to pain and suffering caused by gun violence. For this, approximately $433 million of tax payers’ money is utilized annually.

“Up to 85 percent of gunshot victims, for example, are either uninsured or on some form of publicly funded insurance. Additionally, law enforcement efforts are funded entirely by taxpayer dollars,” the study stated.

Gun violence also affected business activities in the state.

“Shootings engender fear in affected neighborhoods, which keeps potential customers away, forces businesses to relocate or limit hours of operation, and decreases foreign and local tourism,” it added.

Ari Freilich, staff attorney for the Giffords Law Center, said the financial analysis used for the study was done by an economist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.

“The costs are massive — the human and moral costs and also the fiscal costs we share as taxpayers and society at large,” Kelly Drane, a Giffords Law Center public health research associate, told the New York Daily News.

“New York State is actually a national leader (in gun control), but even so, the cost of gun violence, even in one of our safest states, is enormous," Drane added.

According to a report by the New York Daily News, 367 of the 628 murders committed across the state in 2016 involved firearms. Also, 61 percent of the 335 murders happened in In New York City in 2016 involved a gun, it added.

No gun control measures were taken by the state legislature since the passage of the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act (SAFE Act) in 2013. The act was formulated after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and the Webster, New York shooting.