About 19 million people in the US have thought about shooting someone in their lifetime: Study

An estimated 19 million people in the United States have "seriously thought about shooting another person" in their lifetime, according to a recent study from the University of Michigan. 

What they're saying:

"While most people who have these thoughts don’t act on them, the number is so high that the small proportion who do act turns into tens of thousands of fatal and nonfatal firearm injuries each year," Brian Hicks, Ph.D., the psychologist and Professor of Psychiatry at the U-M Medical School and lead author of the study, said. 

Dig deeper:

The National Firearms, Alcohol, Cannabis and Suicide Survey asked adults in the U.S. about thoughts and behaviors related to shooting others between May 27, 2025, and Sept. 2, 2025, according to the study which was published in JAMA Network on March 17, 2026.

By the numbers:

Of the approximately 7,034 people who elected to take part in the survey, over 7% of U.S. adults said they have thought about shooting someone in their lifetime, which corresponds to an estimated 19.4 million people, according to researchers at the University of Michigan.

Approximately 3.3% of participants in the survey also said they have "seriously thought about shooting another person" in the past 12 months. That percentage equates to an estimated 8.7 million people. 

• 21% said they thought about getting a gun to shoot someone else
• 8% said they have brought a gun to a specific location to shoot someone else
• 21% said they told another person they were thinking about shooting someone else
• 7% said they gave their gun to someone else for safekeeping during a crisis

Men were more likely to have these thoughts

Men were far more likely to have these kinds of thoughts compared to women, researchers said.

Additionally, younger people who identified their race as Black, people who lived in Midwestern states and people who lived in urban areas were more likely to have these kinds of thoughts, the study found. 

Researchers also highlighted that Black Americans were six times more likely to be the victim of homicide compared to white Americans. 

The survey also found that households that had incomes under $50,000 were more likely to have thoughts of shooting someone in the past year.

Interestingly, there were no significant differences based on political ideology. 

Enemies were the main reason for these thoughts

When asked who they were thinking about when having thoughts of shooting someone, more than half of respondents said an enemy. 

• 25%: Someone they didn’t know but had a conflict with them
• 14%: A government official or employee
• 10%: Family member
• 10%: Former spouse or romantic partner
• 9%: Current spouse or romantic partner

The other side:

There were limitations to this study, researchers noted.

The survey was only conducted in English and online, potentially limiting its applicability to populations that speak little English or don’t have access to the Internet.

Additionally, the data did not include firearms used in suicide cases, which account for over half of the firearm-related deaths in the U.S., Hicks said.

What's next:

Researchers hope this data can be used for future surveys that will examine other factors as to why people think about shooting someone, including mental health or substance use issues, as well as looking into firearm safety practices among owners.