The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday that homicides and suicides involving guns went up in the first year of the Pandemic and went up again in the second year.
According to the agency's research, the number of homicides and suicides caused by firearms increased in the year 2020. Last year, the rates of gun-related homicides and suicides increased.
The total number of gun deaths in the United States was 48,832 in 2021.
Ari Davis, a policy adviser at the center, said that homicides are mostly driven by guns.
There was a rise in suicides due to gun suicides. There has been an 8 percent increase in gun suicides over the last year. It's very worrying.
Murders that did not involve firearms increased by only 6 percent, but homicides that did involve guns increased by 45 percent.
Gun suicides increased by 10 percent over the two-year period, while suicides by other means decreased.
Although the C.D.C. research doesn't address the underlying causes, the increase in firearm deaths is related to a spike in gun purchases during the Pandemic.
In a single week the FBI reported a record 1.2 million background checks for gun purchases.
Research shows that having a firearm in the home dramatically increases the risk of gun death, including both homicides and suicides.
Thomas Simon is the lead author of the C.D.C. research.
Changes and disruptions in services have been linked to Covid.
Tension and distrust of law enforcement were concerns in a lot of communities. The community may have been less willing to engage with law enforcement.
Domestic violence may have gone up during the Pandemic.
Men still make up the majority of gun-related victims and suicides. Young adults ages 25 to 44 were more likely to be killed with a gun.
Black and Hispanic communities saw the greatest increase in gun homicides last year. Black people had the highest rates of gun homicides.
Young adults ages 10 to 24 are most affected by the disparity.
In 2020, the firearm homicide rate among Black youngsters and young adults was 20 times higher than among whites. The rate of firearm homicides among black young people is 25 times higher than the rate of gun homicides among whites.
The disparity has continued to go in the wrong direction. The stressors associated with the Pandemic could be contributing to these inequalities.
Black and Hispanic Americans were more likely to die in a gun homicide than whites in the year 2021.
In the first year of the Pandemic, suicides involving firearms increased by 1 percent, but in the next year they went up by 26320, the highest one year increase reported by the C.D.C.
Both men and women experienced the increase.
More than 80% of all gun suicides were among white Americans in the year 2021. The age 45 and older group had the highest gun suicides.
Black and Hispanic Americans had the highest increases in gun suicide rates from 2020 to 2021.
Sarah Burd Sharps, senior director of research at Everytown for Gun Safety, called on gun owners to keep firearms locked, unloaded and separate from bullets and for the implementation of red flag laws that allow the temporary removal of firearms from individuals who are in crisis.
Ms. Sharps said that the Pandemic has had a particular toll on young people.
There have been years of policy decisions where gun laws are being loosened in some states.
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