On Thursday Democrat presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren tweeted a video clip in which she pledged “executive action in every corner” for gun control.
Warren said, “40,000 Americans died last year from gun violence.” Warren’s claim is actually a loose reference to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers for 2017–the most recent numbers–which show 39,773 people died in a firearm-related death.
However, Warren did not mention that nearly two-thirds of those deaths were due to suicide, not “gun violence.”
In fact, the surge in the gun deaths was the result of a surge in suicides. And the Chicago Tribune’s Steven Chapman notes that “the increase was actually greater for the non-firearm suicide rate than for the firearm suicide rate.”
Elizabeth Warren: 'Executive Action in Every Corner' for Gun Control