More Americans are now killed by GUNS than car crashes as shootings become country’s leading cause of death by trauma for the first time

 Gunshots are now the leading cause of death by trauma in the US and have overtaken car crashes for the first time in history, according to a new report. 

Surgeons at Westchester Medical Centre in New York state released research suggested that more than 1.4million years of potential life are lost every year to gun crime. 

Car crashes were the greatest cause of death until deaths from guns skyrocketed between 2009 and 2018.  

The report, published in medical journal Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open, found gun deaths rose on average by 0.72 per cent every year, culminating in 38,929 deaths in 2018. 

Surgeons at Westchester Medical Centre in New York state released research suggested that more than 1.4million years of potential life are lost every year to gun crime

Conversely, road accidents fell by 0.07 per cent each year that decade.  

Suicides using guns rose from 18,735 in 2009 to an astonishing 24,432 in 2018 while gun murders rose from 11,493 to 13,958.  

The eye-opening study found suicide of white men accounted for 49 per cent of the total gun deaths and murders of black men made up 18 per cent, according to the report seen by The Times. 

It comes just seven months after the US recorded one shooting every 12 minutes in the week of July 17 last year.   

Data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive reveals more than 1,000 Americans were wounded or killed in shootings in the seven days between Saturday July 17 and Friday July 23.    

Gun violence rocked almost every state that week, with at least one gun-related incident recorded in 47 states and the District of Columbia, according to ABC News' analysis of GVA data. 

Illinois recorded the most shootings, with 109 incidents in the week.

On average, 123 people have died every single day in 2021 from gun violence putting the nation on track to record 45,000deaths by the end of the year

One shooting on Wednesday saw a 14-year-old boy killed and nine others injured in two shootings on the West Side of Chicago.  

Five people were shot in the first shooting in the North Lawndale section with five more shot in a second shooting three blocks away less than five minutes later.  

Gun violence has plagued the Windy City in 2021 with the city's crime data showing a nine percent jump in shootings so far compared to the same time last year and a 60 percent jump from 2019. 

During the July 4 weekend alone, 92 people were shot in the city and 16 were killed.   

After Illinois, Texas recorded the highest number of shootings in that week with 63 incidents including a drive-by shooting in Houston that killed one man and injured five others Thursday evening.

Pennsylvania was next with 59 shootings including one shocking incident where a one-year-old girl was shot inside a convenience store in Philadelphia on July 17. 

Shooting deaths have been climbing overall since 2014, rising from 33,804 that year to almost 44,000 in 2020. 

And gun sales in the US have stayed high with just under 19million sold in 2021 - the second-highest total over the past 20 years, according to SafeHome research seen by Fox.  

And gun sales in the US have stayed high with just under 19million sold in 2021 - the second-highest total over the past 20 years

The senior editor of the organization, Corie Colliton, said that just eight states had no firearms-related incidents in a school in 2021

Even though firearm sales fell 13 per cent from 2020, they are still 40 per cent higher than in 2019.   

SafeHome said: 'On an overall and population-adjusted basis, more people are buying guns in almost every state.' 

The senior editor of the organization, Corie Colliton, said that just eight states had no firearms-related incidents in a school in 2021. 

CEO of Global Security Group, Dave Katz, said that concerns from suburban residents living near areas with rioting last summer may have led to them buying guns for the first time. 

Even though firearm sales fell 13 per cent from 2020, they are still 40 per cent higher than in 2019

Gun deaths were highest in the south of the US. And in 2018 more than three million registered firearms were recorded in the south, with Texas and Florida having the most. 

The official number of guns in circulation is based on those bought legally but the true number is believed to be much higher. 

A sudden spike in gun ownership has also been attributed to the final months of Donald Trump's presidency where unrest rocked the country - 23 million Americans bought a gun in 2020 which was an annual rise of 64 per cent.  

Researchers from the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, in Hershey, found a 30 percent increase in gun-related injuries and deaths during the pandemic when compared to 2019. 

Additionally, 49 of the 50 states saw a spike in gun violence with only Alaska recording a decrease during the first year of the pandemic.  

The research team believed stressors caused by the pandemic and the increase in firearm purchases caused the spike in violence that struck the nation.

There may be other factors tied to the rise in violence, though.

Violent crime had escalated in a number of major U.S. cities, such as New York, Chicago and Minneapolis, since the start of the pandemic, with the murder rate nationwide reaching its highest point since the mid-1990s. 

Some law enforcement officers also said a decrease in police presence following Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police protests has allowed to crime to rise.