|
Abstract
|
In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, homicides in the US involving a firearm climbed to the highest rate in more than 25 years, according to a new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The overall firearm-related suicide rate remained nearly level.
Firearms were involved in 79% of all homicides in 2020, increasing from 14 392 to 19 350 deaths, a 35% increase (from 4.6 to 6.1 deaths per 100 000 persons) between 2019 and 2020.
The CDC investigators noted that the economic and social challenges that have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated risks associated with homicide and suicide, including income inequality, unemployment, and housing and economic instability. In their analysis, they examined changes in rates of firearm-related homicide and suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic in conjunction with inequalities by race and ethnicity and poverty level. They integrated national vital statistics and population data with measures of urbanization and poverty at the county level to examine firearm homicide and suicide rates by age, sex, race and ethnicity, geographic area, level of urbanization, and level of poverty.
Gun-related homicides increased in 2020 across all demographics, among both men and women, and in metropolitan and rural areas. The report notes, however, that the rise in firearm homicides was not equally distributed, with groups that consistently have the highest gun-related homicide rates (young persons, males, and Black individuals) experiencing the largest increases in 2020.
Among males, firearm-related homicides increased from 12 108 in 2019 to 16 396 in 2020 (a nearly 36% increase, from 7.6 to 10.4 deaths per 100 000 persons). Gun-related homicides also rose substantially in 2020 among women, from 2284 deaths in 2019 to 2954 deaths in 2020 (a 29% increase, from 1.4 to 1.9 deaths per 100 000 in 2019 vs 2020).
The largest rates and increases in firearm homicides occurred among Black males aged 10 to 24 years (from 54.9 to 77.3 deaths per 100 000 in 2019 vs 2020) and 25 years to 44 years (66.5 to 90.6 deaths per 100 000 in 2019 vs 2020), followed by American Indian and Alaska Native men aged 25 years to 44 years (18.9 to 28.7 deaths per 100 000 in 2019 vs 2020). Among females, the highest rates of firearm-related homicides occurred among Black females aged 10 to 24 years (6.4 to 9.1 deaths per 100 000 in 2019 vs 2020) and 25 to 44 years (6.9 to 10.2 deaths per 100 000 in 2019 vs 2020).
“These increases represent the widening of long-standing disparities in firearm homicide rates” along racial, ethnic, and income divides, the authors wrote, noting that a number of factors, such as income inequality, unemployment, and housing and economic instability are associated with risks for both homicide and suicide ...
Language: en |