Violence that causes tens of thousands of U.S. deaths each year is having a significant, negative impact on the country's economy.
According to the study, gun violence costs the US $557 billion a year, or 2.5% of GDP. Quality-of-life losses are the majority of the cost.
An associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School said that employers and their health insurers have a financial incentive to prevent firearm injuries. Despite spending large sums on other efforts to promote employee health, many U.S. businesses don't engage publicly on the subject of firearms.
California's answer to gun violence could be a model for the entire country.
The United States saw a record number of gun deaths and gun sales during the Pandemic of 2020. The top cause of death for kids and teens under the age of 19 was gunshot wounds. A small percentage of shooting deaths in the U.S. are high-profile mass shootings.
The rising rates of gun violence have hurt the U.S. economy. The rate of firearm injuries in employees and dependents at companies with employer-sponsored health insurance more than doubled from 2007 to 2020 Direct health-care costs for workers who survive firearm injuries can be as high as $30,000 in the first year, which is more than four times the cost of workers who didn't sustain firearm injuries.
America's love of firearms is powered by the multi billion dollar industry.
Private companies lose an additional $535 million a year due to gun injuries. Workers who survive firearm injuries experienced a 40% increase in pain disorders, a 51% increase in psychiatric disorders and an 85% increase in substance use disorders. Despite being less common than other workplace injuries, the number of gunshot wounds among workers is increasing, and those injuries still cost employers millions of dollars.
According to Song, the economic rationale for reducing firearm injuries in their workers may be more difficult to ignore.
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