US Gun Homicides Jumped to Highest Level in 25 Years During Pandemic

During the first year of the pandemic, the number of Americans felled by gun violence reached a level not seen since 1994, a new government report shows.

From 2019 to 2020, the rate of murders involving guns rose by nearly 35%, the highest logged in more than 25 years.

In fact, guns were involved in 79% of all murders and 53% of all suicides in 2020. Along with increases in gun suicide rates among some groups, the racial and ethnic gap in gun violence has only widened, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers found.

"Firearm injury is, tragically, a major public health problem in the United States," Dr. Debra Houry, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said during a media briefing on the report.