For more information about what data is available for request, click here.
The Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), housed within the Department of Public Health, works to strengthen coordination, capacity and partnerships to address the root causes of violence, and to advance policies and practices that are grounded in race equity, to prevent all forms of violence and to promote healing across all communities in Los Angeles County.
OVP monitors the trends and circumstances of violent deaths affecting Los Angeles County to inform decision makers and program planners about ways to prevent and intervene on violence in the community, at home and in the workplace.
June is recognized as Gun Violence Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness about the devastating toll of gun violence, advocating for policies that can help reduce gun violence and supporting those directly impacted. Gun violence is a public health crisis that affects individuals, families and entire communities. Each day in the United States, an average of 125 people are killed by guns, and more than 200 are shot and wounded.1 Firearms are now the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S.2
The Wear Orange movement was inspired by the tragic death of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot and killed in Chicago in 2013 just one week after participating in President Obama’s second inaugural parade. On June 7, 2025, communities across the country will recognize National Gun Violence Awareness Day, also known as #WearOrange Day. Orange is the color hunters wear to protect themselves, and it now serves as a national symbol for the gun violence prevention movement.
While firearm deaths to Los Angeles County residents have declined over the past two years, the impact remains staggering. In 2023, there were:
819 firearm-related deaths3
2,299 emergency room visits and inpatient hospitalizations for firearm injuries4
An estimated $9 billion in economic costs from firearm homicides and hospitalized assaults, including both direct (medical care, law enforcement) and indirect (loss of life, productivity) costs5
The County Board of Supervisors has uplifted the vital importance of gun safety and its role in keeping our communities safer. This month, the Board unanimously proclaimed:
June 2025 as Gun Violence Awareness Month
June 6, 2025 as Gun Violence Awareness Day
June 6 – 8, 2025 as Wear Orange Weekend
This proclamation underscores the County’s commitment to supporting survivors, and advocating for sensible gun policy at the local, state and federal level.
The Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention released the 40-point Gun Violence Prevention Platform in June 2022, following horrific mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, and significant increases in firearm injuries and deaths in LA County including a mass shooting in Monterey Park on January 21, 2023. The plan was developed by a diverse group of mental health professionals, emergency room physicians, community and faith leaders, educators, survivors and public health practitioners with the mission to ensure that communities in LA County are safe and free from death, injury and trauma caused by gun violence. The Platform, which is accessible on the OVP website provides community organizations, local governments, faith-based groups, parent associations, business leaders, and others with a blueprint on how to build safer communities. Key components of OVP’s current efforts include:
Secure firearm storage plays a critical role in preventing firearm injuries and deaths. In 2025, OVP is committed to distributing more than 60,000 free cable gun locks, no questions asked. Nearly 30,000-gun locks have already been distributed countywide to reduce accidental shootings, suicide risk, and firearm theft.
OVP has partnered with the Department of Mental Heath’s Military and Veterans Affairs division to establish a new firearm safety lock distribution point specifically for veterans. Data shows that veterans are particularly vulnerable to gun violence. Veterans in California have the highest rates of gun ownership among the state’s residents. Gun-owning veterans had the least gun-safe environment, with 13.9% having a firearm at home loaded and unlocked. The figure is double that for gun-owning non-veteran adults in California.6 In 2022, 570 veterans in California died by suicide, with 65% involving a firearm.7
OVP provides education on Gun Violence Restraining Orders (GVROs), one of several legal tools that temporarily removes firearms from individuals at risk of harming themselves or others. GVROS are an important prevention strategy and have been the focus of OVP trainings and outreach at community events across the County.
Gun violence is preventable, and we all have a role to play. Here’s how you can help:
Advocate for federal gun safety legislation including the reinstatement of the federal ban on assault weapons and large capacity magazines and a federal law mandating universal background checks for all gun sales.
Practice and promote safe gun storage: Ask your friends and family: Are there unlocked guns in the home? Keep guns safely stored and keep ammunition locked separately. Know the facts about firearm safety and become a community voice against gun violence.
Normalize mental health conversations. Encourage friends and family to seek help when they are in crisis and provide resources to support their emotional well-being.
Sources 1. Everytown for Gun Safety. Gun Violence in America. 2. Villarreal, S., Kim, R., Wagner, E., Somayaji, N., Davis, A., & Crifasi, C. K. (2024). Gun Violence in the United States 2022: Examining the Burden Among Children and Teens. Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 3. Los Angeles County Annual 2023 Data File, assembled from California Department of Public Health Vital Records Data. Office of Health Assessment & Epidemiology, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. 4. California Department of Public Health. EpiCenter California Injury Data Online. Accessed 5/15/2025. 5. Everytown for Gun Safety’s Cost Calculator, using estimated costs for California; accessed 5/5/2025. 6. Banawa R, Tan S. 2022. Despite California’s Strong Gun Safety Laws and Regulations, Issues of Gun Safety and Fears of Gun Violence Remain. Fact Sheet. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. 7. California Department of Public Health Office of Suicide Prevention. Injury Data Brief: Suicide Deaths Among Veterans in California, 2022.
OVP is Distributing 60,000 Gun Locks; Free, No Questions Asked
On Tuesday, April 2, the Department of Public Health’s Office of Violence Prevention publicly launched an initiative to help prevent the devastating impact of gun violence including the tragedy of unintentional shootings – which disproportionately affect children – and gun suicides. As part of the initiative, OVP will be distributing 60,000 gun locks; free, no questions asked.
The locks, educational materials and community resources are available through this Gun Lock Request Form and six County medical facilities: Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, High Desert Regional Health Center, Los Angeles General Medical Center, Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center, Olive View – UCLA Medical Center, and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center.
“Far too many families have experienced the terrible pain of losing a child or teen-ager to gun violence,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Director of the Department of Public Health. “In a number of these cases, the simple act of locking and safely storing firearms would have prevented a tragedy.”
Dr. Ferrer was joined by several speakers at Rancho Los Amigos for the official, public kickoff of the gun lock distribution program, including Dr. Shannon Thyne, Director of Pediatrics for the L.A. County Department of Health Services, and two survivors of gun violence.
A total of 13 gun safety and community organizations participated in a resource fair at Rancho Los Amigos following the end of the formal ceremony.
Distribution of gun locks is part of OVP’s comprehensive strategy to reduce gun violence in our communities, which includes developing the 40-point Gun Violence Prevention Platform, providing education about various restraining orders, supporting federal and state gun safety legislation, a school safety initiative, and partnering with health care providers on discussing safe storage with their patients.
Youth Suicide and Suicide Attempts in Los Angeles County
The Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention has released a new report, “Youth Suicide and Suicide Attempts in Los Angeles County,” which highlights suicide and suicide attempt data among Los Angeles County youth ages 10-24 between 2016 and 2020. The report includes general demographics, methods most frequently used, and suicide trends during the five-year period. The report also briefly overviews reported suicides and attempts during 2020, with the acknowledgment that there is still much more to understand about this unprecedented time. The report concludes with links to prevention resources that reduce stigma and normalize mental health as an integral component of health and wellbeing. Click here to view the report.
OVP supports the County’s LA vs. Hate Initiative led by the Human Relations Commission in collaboration with community partners. LA vs Hate is a community-centered creative campaign to encourage and support all residents of Los Angeles County to unite against, report, and resist hate.
If you are the victim, or witness of, a hate incident or hate crime you can report the incident/crime with 211 LA. Your report is confidential and 211 is not affiliated with law enforcement.
After extensive review and input, the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) Early Implementation Strategic Plan was adopted by the County Leadership Committee and Community Partnership Council in September 2020. Read more about OVP Early Implementation Strategic Plan here.
The OVP Strategic Plan is a live document and we welcome your ongoing feedback, specifically as it pertains to our priorities, goals, objectives and strategies. Please provide your input by sending an email to ovp@ph.lacounty.gov or email Andrea Welsing, OVP Director, directly at awelsing@ph.lacounty.gov. We hope you will provide your thoughts, comments and recommendations for the Strategic Plan and that you will continue to be part of our violence prevention and healing efforts as we work together to advance strategies to prevent violence and promote healing.
