New study finds 1 in 5 U.S. adults say a family member has been killed by a gun

A person holds a gun.
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

About 1 in 5 American adults say they have had a family member killed by a gun, including death by suicide, and 1 in 5 say they have personally been threatened with a gun, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation study released Tuesday.

Additionally, 17 percent of American adults have witnessed someone being shot, 4 percent have shot a gun in self-defense, and 4 percent have been wounded in a shooting.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.