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Francis Wilkinson

The Costs of Southern Gun Culture

Bullets and blood flow most freely in the South, as hospitalization expenses from firearms injuries show.
The might of gun rights.

The might of gun rights.

Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Corrected

­­­It's difficult to do a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of American gun culture. It fuels a multibillion-dollar industry employing around 142,000, and it kills more than 30,000 and injures an additional 70,000 annually.

A new study by researchers at Stanford University tries to come to grips with one of the less frequently mentioned costs of gun culture -- the hospitalization expenses resulting from firearm injuries.