gun violence in USA has reached record figures by reaching the highest levels in recent 25 yearsaccording to a report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
This study has indicated that in 2020, coinciding with the first year of the pandemic, there were 19,350 firearm homicides, 35% more than in 2019 and the highest level in the last quarter century. The CDC report does not include data for 2021, but organizations such as The Gun Violence Archive estimates a figure higher than that of 2020, about 20,600 deaths by firearm last year.
The figures worsen in the case of suicides: 24,000 people killed themselves with a firearm in 2020. A figure that, again, The Gun Violence Archive raises to 24,100 in the case of 2021.
79% of homicides and 53% of suicides in 2020 occurred with firearms
The deputy director of the CDC, Debra Houryhas indicated that the 79% of homicides and the 53% of suicides in 2020 they were produced with firearms. In this sense, Houry stressed that gunshot wounds are considered “a serious public health problem in the US.”
The head of Violence Prevention at the CDC, TomSimon, has indicated that this study does not affect the reasons for homicides and suicides by firearm. Although Simon wanted to explain that among the “multiple explanations” You can find the stress, the alterations that the pandemic brought, such as social isolation, economic problems or instability in homes.
Being treated as a public health problem, the CDC has included a series of preventive measures and policies to try to reduce violence, such as promoting social programs that allow violence to be quelled in American communities.
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