Warning: The following story contains information about deaths by suicide. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at 1-800-273-8255.
Firearm-related homicides hit the highest rate in decades in the United States in 2020, the country’s public health agency found, as the coronavirus pandemic intensified longstanding socioeconomic inequalities.
in a report published Tuesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not establish a causal link between COVID-19 and armed violenceBut he said the pandemic “could have exacerbated existing social and economic stressors,” especially among ethnic and ethnic people. racial communities.
The firearm homicide rate nationwide increased by 34.6 percent from 2019 to 2020, according to the report, from 4.6 to 6.1 per 100,000 people. It said that 79 percent of all homicides in the US in 2020 involved firearms, while 53 percent of all suicide deaths were firearm-related.
“The firearm homicide rate in 2020 was the highest on record since 1994. However, the increase in firearm homicides was not evenly distributed. Young people, men, and blacks consistently have the highest rates of firearm homicides, and these groups saw the largest increases in 2020,” the report says.
“Since a long time systemic inequalities and structural racism have resulted in limited economic, housing, and educational opportunities associated with disparities in the risk of violence and other health conditions among various racial and ethnic groups.”
Gun violence has been a problem in the US for decades, drawing condemnation and calls for tighter restrictionsespecially after mass shootings in schools.
But efforts to pass tougher gun laws have been staunchly opposed by powerful gun lobby groups, while gun rights advocates regularly point out that the Second Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the right to “keep and bear arms”.
The Gun Violence Archive, a US-based non-profit group, saying on its website that as of Tuesday, more than 15,300 people had died as a result of gun violence, including deaths by suicide, so far this year.
The United States has also recorded 185 mass shootings so far in 2022, according to the group, which defines a mass shooting as any incident in which four or more people are shot to death, not including the attacker.
“Gun injuries are a tragically significant public health problem in the United States,” said Dr. Debra E Houry, acting senior deputy director of the CDC, during a news conference launching the CDC report. agency on Tuesday.
The CDC report found that while all population groups experience firearm-related homicides and suicides, “firearm homicide rates are consistently higher among males, adolescents and young adults, and blacks or African Americans. Non-Hispanic (Black) and American Indian or Non-Hispanic Indian. Alaska Native (AI/AN) people.
For example, the 2020 firearm homicide rate for black men and boys ages 10 to 24 was 21.6 times higher than the rate for white men and boys in the same age group, versus a ratio of 20.6 the previous year.
Meanwhile, although the overall firearm suicide rate remained relatively unchanged between 2019 and 2020, “the largest increase occurred among AI/AN individuals, resulting in this group having the highest rate of firearm suicides.” of fire from 2020″.
The findings come as US President Joe Biden has denounced mass shootings as a “national embarrassment” and promised to enact tougher gun regulations. But he faces an uphill battle against gun lobby groups and lawmakers who oppose more restrictive gun laws.
Last month, Biden released a new rule from the US Department of Justice. that he said he would crack down on the prevalence of so-called “ghost guns” — privately made firearms without serial numbers that law enforcement finds at crime scenes.
At the same time, he urged Congress to “do its job” and pass appropriations and other legislation to reduce gun crime.
That includes “legislation to require background checks for all gun sales, ensure no terrorist can buy a gun in the United States, ban the sale and possession of non-serialized firearms: ghost guns, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and repeal weapons. manufacturers liability protection,” the White House said in a statement. a data sheet.
The CDC said Tuesday that its report demonstrates the need to address the underlying factors that contribute to homicide and suicide deaths, “including the underlying economic, physical, and social inequalities that drive racial and ethnic disparities in multiple health outcomes.”
Housing assistance, childcare subsidies and living wages can help reduce poverty and other risk factors for violence, the CDC said, while communities can also work to increase green space to promote better living conditions. Support programs for victims of violence are also important.
“Gun deaths are preventable, they are not inevitable,” Houry said.