One in five Americans have lost a family member to gun violence

Both the Kentucky and Tennessee governors have lost close family friends in mass shootings in the past two weeks.

One in five Americans (19 per cent) have experienced the trauma of losing a relative to gun violence, according to a new study.

The survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) found that about the same number (21 per cent) of US adults said they had been personally threatened with a gun.

And one in six US adults (17 per cent) had directly witnessed someone being shot, according to the poll.

The survey was released one day after five people were killed — including a close friend of Kentucky governor Andy Beshear — and nine others wounded when a Louisville bank employee armed with an AR-15 style rifle opened fire at his workplace on Monday morning.

“Tommy Elliott helped me build my law career, helped me become governor, gave me advice on being a good dad,” Mr Beshear said during a press conference on Monday night. “He’s one of the people I talked to most in the world, and very rarely were we talking about my job. He was an incredible friend.”

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear speaks to reporters during a news conference in Louisville, Kentucky, on Monday, April 10, 2023. (Associated Press)

The shooter, identified by police as Connor Sturgeon, 25, had told a friend prior to the attack that he wanted to “kill everyone”.

He legally purchased the weapon one week earlier, and live-streamed the attack to his Instagram page, before being shot dead by officers. It was the 15th mass murder in the United States in the first hundred days of 2023.

There have been at least 147 mass shootings so far this year, where four or more people are shot, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

A mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville last month that claimed the lives of three nine-year-old children and three teachers also struck close to home for Tennessee governor Bill Lee.

Cynthia Peak, a 61-year-old substitute teacher killed in the 27 March attack, was a close friend of Mr Lee’s wife Maria, the governor said.

“Maria woke up this morning without one of her best friends,” Mr Lee said the next day, according to the Associated Press. Peak had been due to have dinner with Ms Lee on the day she was killed, the governor added.

Tommy Elliott, 63, Jim Tutt, 64, Josh Barrick, 40, Juliana Farmer, 57, and Deana Eckert, 57 were all killed in the Louisville mass shooting. (AP/Supplied)

According to the KFF poll, one third of Black adults (34 per cent) reported losing a family member to gun violence, double the number of white (17 per cent) or Hispanic (18 per cent) people. The figure includes deaths by homicide and suicide.

After the latest shooting, UofL Health chief medical officer Jason Smith begged lawmakers to take action prevent further killings.

“For 15 years, I’ve cared for victims of violence and gunshot wounds. And people say, ‘I’m tired,’ but I’ll be honest, it’s more than tired. I’m weary,” Dr Smith said.

Health professionals have long been pushing for gun violence to be treated as a public health issue, a subject also canvassed in the KFF survey. Around one in seven (14 per cent) respondents said they had been asked by a health care provider if guns were kept in their home.

Four in ten adults reported that they live in a household where firearms are kept.

The survey of 1,271 adults was conducted in English and Spanish from 14 to 23 March.