{"id":43,"date":"2023-03-02T16:09:45","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T21:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/?page_id=43"},"modified":"2026-03-12T14:33:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T18:33:52","slug":"firearm-related-deaths","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Firearm-Related Deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pl-43\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-43-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-43-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-43-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_sow-editor panel-first-child\" data-index=\"0\" ><div class=\"panel-widget-style panel-widget-style-for-43-0-0-0\" ><div\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tclass=\"so-widget-sow-editor so-widget-sow-editor-base\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n<div class=\"siteorigin-widget-tinymce textwidget\">\n\t<p>The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) tracks all types of firearm-related deaths. These include suicides, homicides, unintentional deaths, those related to legal intervention or war, or deaths with undetermined intent. The data can be used by community groups, healthcare providers, law enforcement, and others working to prevent firearm-related deaths. Data on this dashboard are from death certificates of Virginia residents only, including those who died out of state.<\/p>\n<p>Firearm\u2013related death data by age group, race\/ethnicity, sex, health district, and intent of injury are <a href=\"https:\/\/data.virginia.gov\/organization\/virginia-department-of-health?q=firearm&amp;sort=score+desc%2C+metadata_modified+desc\">available for download<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This dashboard is updated annually by December for the previous calendar year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"panel-43-0-0-1\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_sow-editor\" data-index=\"1\" ><div class=\"panel-widget-style panel-widget-style-for-43-0-0-1\" ><div\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tclass=\"so-widget-sow-editor so-widget-sow-editor-base\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n<div class=\"siteorigin-widget-tinymce textwidget\">\n\t<p><span data-teams=\"true\"><strong>Note on 2024 death data:<\/strong> A federal government shutdown occurred from October 1, 2025 to November 12, 2025. During this time, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) was affected. Because NCHS finalizes death certificate data, there were delays in finalizing death certificate records. Data for 2024 will be added to the dashboard when final data are available.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"panel-43-0-0-2\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_nav_menu\" data-index=\"2\" ><div class=\"dashboard-navigation-menu panel-widget-style panel-widget-style-for-43-0-0-2\" ><h3 class=\"widget-title\">Dashboard Navigation Menu<\/h3><div class=\"menu-dashboards-container\"><ul id=\"menu-dashboards\" class=\"menu\"><li id=\"menu-item-163\" class=\"dashboards-menu-item menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-home first-menu-item menu-item-163\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/\"><i class=\"fa fa-home\" title=\"Home\" aria-label=\"home\"><\/i> Home<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-187\" class=\"dashboards-menu-item menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-187\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-injury-emergency-department-visits\/\">ED Visits Dashboard<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-164\" class=\"dashboards-menu-item menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-164\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/\">Deaths Dashboard<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"menu-item-165\" class=\"dashboards-menu-item menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom last-menu-item menu-item-165\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/216\/2023\/05\/Firearm_Injuries_DataBrief_FINAL.pdf\">Firearm Injury Data Brief <i class=\"far fa-file-pdf\"><\/i><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"panel-43-0-0-3\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_sow-editor\" data-index=\"3\" ><div\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tclass=\"so-widget-sow-editor so-widget-sow-editor-base\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n<div class=\"siteorigin-widget-tinymce textwidget\">\n\t\n<!-- iframe plugin v.6.0 wordpress.org\/plugins\/iframe\/ -->\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Firearm-Related Deaths\" src=\"https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/views\/FirearmDeaths_3_7_23\/FirearmDeathsStatewide?:language=en-US&#038;publish=yes&#038;:display_count=n&#038;:origin=viz_share_link&#038;:alerts=no&#038;:embed=y&#038;:display_spinner=no&#038;:showAppBanner=false&#038;:customViews=no&#038;:dataDetails=no&#038;:embed_code_version=3&#038;:loadOrderID=0&#038;:display_count=n&#038;:showVizHome=n&#038;:showShareOptions=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"2700\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><span class=\"ui-provider gr b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z ab ac ae af ag ah ai aj ak\" dir=\"ltr\">Download <a href=\"https:\/\/data.virginia.gov\/organization\/virginia-department-of-health?q=firearm&amp;sort=score+desc%2C+metadata_modified+desc\">firearm deaths data<\/a> or read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/216\/2023\/11\/Firearm_Deaths_PublicUseDataSets_MetaData-Updated-11.7.23.xlsx\">more information<\/a> about the data.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><div id=\"panel-43-0-0-4\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_sow-editor panel-last-child\" data-index=\"4\" ><div class=\"panel-widget-style panel-widget-style-for-43-0-0-4\" ><div\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tclass=\"so-widget-sow-editor so-widget-sow-editor-base\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n<div class=\"siteorigin-widget-tinymce textwidget\">\n\t<h2><strong>About the Data<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The VDH Office of Vital Records tracks causes of death among Virginia residents using death certificates. Codes on the death certificate indicate underlying and contributing causes of death.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335557856&quot;:16777215,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Case Definition:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> Deaths are classified as firearm-related using the definition from the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/injury\/stateprograms\/indicators.html\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention State Injury Indicators Report<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335557856&quot;:16777215,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Intent:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> Firearm-related deaths include all intent types: suicide, homicide, unintentional, legal intervention or war, and undetermined.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335557856&quot;:16777215,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Measures:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> Death counts and rates per 100,000 population. <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Rates per 100,000 population for firearm-related deaths use single-race population estimates produced by the U.S. Census Bureau and obtained from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wonder.cdc.gov\/single-race-population.html\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">CDC WONDER<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. Rates published on this dashboard before December 2024 used <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wonder.cdc.gov\/bridged-race-population.html\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">bridged-race population estimates<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> produced by the National Center for Health Statistics. This data source was discontinued. All rates per 100,000 population on the dashboard were recalculated using the single-race population estimates. Small differences in rates may be seen in data accessed before December 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Geography:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> Data are of Virginia residents only, whether or not they died in Virginia. Health district is based on the residence of the patient at the time of death, not where the death occurred.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335557856&quot;:16777215,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">Other:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"none\"> Death certificate data are the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wonder.cdc.gov\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">data source<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to report on firearm-related deaths for states, jurisdictions, and the United States. For this reason, use death certificate data when comparing firearm-related deaths across jurisdictions. Firearm-related death counts on this dashboard may differ from reported counts from the VDH Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). This dashboard reports deaths of Virginia residents only and based on the decedent's residence at time of death, whereas OCME reports on firearm-related deaths that occurred in Virginia.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335557856&quot;:16777215,&quot;335559738&quot;:240,&quot;335559739&quot;:360}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) tracks all types of firearm-related deaths. These include suicides, homicides, unintentional deaths, those related to legal intervention or war, or deaths with undetermined intent. The data can be used by community groups, healthcare providers, law enforcement, and others working to prevent firearm-related deaths. Data on this dashboard are from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Firearm-Related Deaths - Firearm Injury in Virginia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dashboard showing counts and rates of firearm-related deaths among Virginia residents.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Firearm-Related Deaths - Firearm Injury in Virginia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dashboard showing counts and rates of firearm-related deaths among Virginia residents.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Firearm Injury in Virginia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-12T18:33:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/firearm-related-deaths\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/firearm-related-deaths\\\/\",\"name\":\"Firearm-Related Deaths - Firearm Injury in Virginia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-02T21:09:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-12T18:33:52+00:00\",\"description\":\"Dashboard showing counts and rates of firearm-related deaths among Virginia residents.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/firearm-related-deaths\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/firearm-related-deaths\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/firearm-related-deaths\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Firearm-Related Deaths\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/\",\"name\":\"Firearm Injury in Virginia\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\\\/firearm-injury\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Firearm-Related Deaths - Firearm Injury in Virginia","description":"Dashboard showing counts and rates of firearm-related deaths among Virginia residents.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Firearm-Related Deaths - Firearm Injury in Virginia","og_description":"Dashboard showing counts and rates of firearm-related deaths among Virginia residents.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/","og_site_name":"Firearm Injury in Virginia","article_modified_time":"2026-03-12T18:33:52+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/","name":"Firearm-Related Deaths - Firearm Injury in Virginia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-03-02T21:09:45+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-12T18:33:52+00:00","description":"Dashboard showing counts and rates of firearm-related deaths among Virginia residents.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/firearm-related-deaths\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Firearm-Related Deaths"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/","name":"Firearm Injury in Virginia","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions\/219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/firearm-injury\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}