Gun death rates are higher in rural America because of suicide by gun. Suicide by any method are tragic, but they pose no danger to tourists or other residents of a rural area.The fact is that gun deaths are much higher, per capita, in republican rural America than in urban areas.
If some poor soul shoots himself in the head while sitting in his house in rural Georgia, I am in no danger of the bullet going astray and hitting me while I drive by 10 miles away. But if I am walking through downtown Chicago or midtown Manhattan or walking in my local mall, I am fearful that some gangbangers wielding illegal handguns may decide to have a wild shootout with each other--the bullets could easily strike me and others. A rational person fears the things that are most likely to harm him.
A higher prevalence of gun ownership in rural America has contributed to increased suicides, raising the overall gun-death rate in rural areas above that of urban communities.
Experts say some legal interventions that have broad public support could help lower the risk of people harming themselves or others with guns.
In 2020, the rural gun death rate was 28% higher than the urban rate. Nonmetropolitan counties reported 17.01 deaths per 100,000 residents, compared to a rate of 13.19 in urban America, according to CDC reports.