CDC: Firearm homicide rate soared by nearly 35% between 2019 – 2020

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, the US firearm homicide rate increased by a massive 34.6% from 2019 to 2020, reaching its highest level since 1994, a study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday has shown.

The homicide rate was lowest at lower poverty levels and highest at higher poverty levels, the study found.

According to the study, 79% of US homicides were carried out with a gun in 2020: the firearm homicide rate increased 34.6%, from 4.6 to 6.1 per 100,000 persons, the CDC reported.

The largest increases in firearm homicide rates were found among non-Hispanic Black or African American males aged 10–44 years and among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) males aged 25–44 years, the report said.

“The firearm homicide rate in the United States reached its highest level since 1994, with substantial increases among several population subgroups,” the CDC study said in its conclusion. “These increases have widened disparities in rates by race and ethnicity and poverty level.”

“Implementation of comprehensive strategies employing proven approaches that address underlying economic, physical, and social conditions contributing to the risks for violence and suicide is urgently needed to reduce these rates and disparities,” the CDC recommended in the study.

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