When a person is shot with a firearm, the result is not always fatal. Many victims of firearm violence survive, but suffer severe consequences, and their treatment and recovery place a heavy burden on these survivors, their families, communities, and on society.

Globally, firearm violence causes more non-lethal injuries than deaths. Yet our knowledge about non-lethal firearm injuries is limited and is hampered by a lack of data. A better understanding of the incidence and patterns of non-lethal firearm violence would help clarify the overall burden of armed violence on society, and assist in developing effective responses.

'Non-Lethal Firearm Violence' is a new Research Note from the Small Arms Survey and the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development.  It examines the impact of firearm assaults as well as that of self-inflicted and unintentional firearm injuries.

The Research Note explains how the type of firearm and ammunition influences the ‘survivability’ of firearm injuries; it reviews existing data sources; it presents available data on the incidence of non-fatal injuries; and it examines the direct and indirect costs of firearm injuries.

• Download Research Note 32: Non-lethal Firearm Violence    

• More on armed violence
• More on the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development
• See also the Global Burden of Armed Violence 2011: Lethal Encounters

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