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Test Your Gun Knowledge: What Causes The Most Deaths In America?

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Nick Sherman Contributor
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The United States sees roughly 3 million deaths per year. How many of those deaths come from gun violence? How many come from other fatal illnesses and accidents?

Recently, debate regarding gun violence has taken over the media, with many news outlets relating mass shootings and other violent, gun-related incidents to the United States’ gun laws, gun statistics and Second Amendment rights.

While violent crime in the United States has been on a steady decline since the early 1990s, a large number of Americans, including children, have fallen victim to gun violence. As much as 80-percent of gun-related deaths, however, are carried out with illegally purchased firearms. There is also no clear relation between stricter gun laws and less gun-related homicides. (RELATED: Beto Takes One Question On Guns — Gives An Answer Both Sides Will Hate)

Politicians are still going after Second Amendment regulations with the hope to decrease that 3-million-person death toll. What other causes of death could they be concerned with? What do you think kills more Americans?

Find out the most common cause of death below.

Heart Disease

According to the Center for Disease Control, Heart Disease is the number one killer of Americans in 2017. Around 610,000 people die each year from heart disease.

Strokes

Strokes or a blood clot in the brain is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and is responsible for 140,000 deaths every year in America. This equates to 1-in-20 deaths in America are from a stroke.

Drugs

Around 64,000 people a year a killed due to drug-related causes. According to Vox, drug-related deaths outnumber those of guns, car crashes, and even every death that occurred during the Vietnam War.

Car Accidents

Deaths by car accidents exceeded 40,00 people in 2017 rounding out to 40,100 deaths due to car accidents.

Guns

In 2017, guns caused 39, 773 deaths. However, 60 percent of that number comes from suicides while 30 percent were the result of homicide.

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