Sarasota and Bradenton lead nation in gun-suicide deaths, report shows

Sarasota and Bradenton lead the nation in gun-suicide deaths among cities with a population over 50,000, according to a report from New York University.

The report was released in September as part of a suicide prevention awareness month. Researchers examined gun homicide data from cities with populations over 50,000 from 2014 to 2020, finding nearly four out of 10 gun-related deaths in U.S. cities are attributed to suicide, an 11% increase since 2014, according to the report.

Bradenton was listed as having the highest rate of gun suicides of all cities with available data in 2020 with 34.5 suicides per 100,000 people. Sarasota was ranked in the top five cities with the highest rates for 2020 with 7.3 suicides per 100,000 of the population.

“To address gun violence in our cities, we need to acknowledge the growing — and too often unspoken— role that gun suicide plays in the human toll of this epidemic,” Meg O’Toole, deputy director of research at Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a press release. “This analysis unveils the scope of people who die by suicide and highlights the need to broaden the concept of city gun violence to recognize, prevent, and solve this pressing public health concern.”