How Guns Lead to So Many Deaths in America

Tom Lindeman at the Washington Post chronicles the leading causes of "violence-related" death in the U.S. from 1999 to 2007 by age group.

As the conversation about guns in this country continues—and takes a weird turn thanks to David Gregory—we're seeing more graphics that show the toll guns take in America. Not only has Slate, like Huffington Post and David Frum before it, started chronicling all the gun deaths since Newtown, but today Tom Lindeman at the Washington Post chronicled the leading causes of "violence-related" death in the U.S. from 1999 to 2007 by age group. A firearm is ranked first as the leading cause of death in all age categories save for "less than one year" and "1 to 4" where the top-ranked cause is "unspecified" and 10 to 14 where it is "suffocation." Lindeman also color-codes the chart to represent whether the deaths were suicide or homicide. Click through to read all of Ezra Klein's analysis.