Among advanced nations, the United States stands alone in its level of everyday violence, especially the number of citizens killed by gunfire. Debate about causes and cures ignores wide variances in rates of violent death among states and is focused on homicide to the neglect of suicide, resulting in skewed public perceptions of risk. To better inform policy discussion about gun violence, we delineate the distribution of risk for violent death from homicide and suicide across states and estimate the possible influence of gun ownership prevalence and state gun law strength on risk differences.