Firearm-Related Harm Prevention

Gun violence is a public health crisis, and it is preventable with a public health approach.

Together with other city agencies, the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment (DDPHE) has embarked on a strategic approach to prevent gun violence in Denver, which will result in a collaborative citywide prevention blueprint to be launched in 2025. This work will recognize and supplement all ongoing gun violence prevention work already being done in Denver by other city agencies and our community partners.

DDPHE’s plan will seek to prevent firearm violence and associated harms by following the CDC’s four-step Public Health Approach to Violence Prevention:

  1. Define and Monitor the Problem: Conduct multi-source data analyses to help understand all types of firearm-related harms and population-specific burdens. See the dashboard below.
  2. Identify Risk and Protective Factors: Identify upstream factors that inform intervention strategies.
  3. Develop and Evaluate Strategies: Develop prevention strategies grounded in evidence and informed by Denver-specific data and risk and protective factors. Evaluate strategies for effectiveness at reducing the opportunity for and impact of firearm-related harm.
  4. Expand Impact: Promote the widespread adoption of successful strategies, including advocating for relevant policies.

What are firearm-related harms?

Firearm-related harms result from six categories of gun violence, including:

  • Suicide
  • Community violence
  • Domestic violence
  • Targeted or mass violence
  • Officer-involved shootings
  • Accidental violence

Harms include deaths from firearm violence, hospitalizations, and cascading impacts on people who witness violence, family members, and communities. 

What does firearm-related harm look like in Denver?

From 2020-2023, firearm-related deaths were the top leading cause of death for Denver residents aged 14-24 years old and the second leading cause of death among those 25-55 years. In 2023 alone, 134 Denver residents lost their lives to a firearm.

Beginning in 2020, firearm deaths related to homicides in Denver surpassed firearm deaths related to suicides for the first multi-year span in our records; this is not consistent with state or national trends. Firearm-related hospitalization rates in Denver were aligned with state-wide rates until 2019, when they began to increase more rapidly. In 2023, age-adjusted firearm-related hospitalization rates in Denver were 27.5 hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, compared to 16 hospitalizations statewide. Notably, firearm hospitalization rates in Denver and statewide both declined in 2023 after peaking in 2022.

DDPHE is currently conducting deeper-dive analyses into these trends by violence type and across location, populations, and contextual factors, with the goal of gaining a more nuanced understanding. Additional findings, the full prevention blueprint, and new programming will be implemented in 2025.

For more comprehensive information about firearm-related harms in Denver, please scroll down to view the new Firearm Related Harm Prevention Dashboard. For more information on this program and prevention efforts, please contact DDPHEdata@denvergov.org.

Dashboard

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