KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A new study ranks Missouri seventh in the nation in calculating the financial toll of gun violence on taxpayers. Everytown Research & Policy estimated that the state spends more than $17 billion each year to deal with the consequences of gun violence, according to a study released Tuesday. Researchers say the above-average financial burden on Missourians is tied to the state’s weak gun laws. While American taxpayers spend about $1,600 on gun violence-related costs like law enforcement and medical care, people living in Missouri pay about $2,900. The study points to a number of reasons for the high price. Gun deaths in the state have increased by nearly 70% in the past decade. And while the majority of reported deaths were suicides, taxpayers still pay for the police response, medical costs, and lost revenue, income, and quality of life.

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Residents in states with populations comparable to Missouri’s, such as Washington, pay about $1,500 in costs related to gun violence. Washington has a gun death rate of 11 deaths per 100,000 residents compared to Missouri’s rate of 20.4. Another major difference between the two states is the strength of gun laws, according to the study. In Washington, background checks are required to purchase a gun. An extreme risk protection order law gives family members and police the ability to prevent someone who is a significant danger to others from obtaining a gun through a court order. The state also requires gun owners to store their guns safely. In Missouri, there is no law requiring background checks for unlicensed gun sales. Safety training and permit requirements to buy and carry handguns were repealed in 2007. A previous analysis shows that the state’s gun death rate increased 58 percent over the next 12 years because of the repeal of the permit measure. And in 2021, the State of Missouri passed a bill that makes state firearms laws supersede federal statutes. The study argues that states with lower gun death rates allow taxpayer dollars to be invested in other valuable programs in education, health care and workforce development. Some of these services address the underlying causes of gun violence, according to the study. Overall, the cost of gun violence in the United States was about $557 billion on average—more than the 2021 budget for the U.S. Department of Education. St. Louis had 263 homicides in 2020 and recorded the highest homicide rate ever. The total drops to 199 in 2021. So far this year, there have been 97 homicides, below the pace set last year.
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