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Friday, Apr. 11, 2025

Are most Colorado gun deaths ruled suicides?

Por Jaijongkit, The Colorado Sun
yes

Roughly 71% of Colorado’s 1,012 firearm deaths in 2023 were the result of suicides, up 4 percentage points from a year earlier, state health data shows.  

Colorado reported 1,290 suicides in 2023. Guns were used in 717 of those, or 56%. 

Between 2009 and 2018, 77% of gun deaths in Colorado were from suicide, while 19% were the result of homicides, according to States United to Prevent Gun Violence. The remaining deaths were accidental, undetermined or involved deadly force by police.

Suicide is the eighth-leading cause of death in Colorado. The state has the 10th-highest firearm suicide rate in the United States. 

Among Coloradans who die by suicide, men are nearly twice as likely as women to use a gun, 57% to 31%, according to a 2021 state analysis. 

Guns are also involved in most homicides in Colorado, including in 2022, when they accounted for 73% of homicides, state data shows.

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