Gun deaths reach record high in 2021, study shows

Gun deaths in the U.S. reached a record high in 2021, with an average of one person dying every 11 minutes each day — a total of nearly 49,000 deaths from gun violence throughout the year, according to a new study (Source: “One person died from gun violence every 11 minutes in 2021, setting new record: study,” The Hill, June 6). 
 
The new Johns Hopkins study, using the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found gun deaths reached the highest number ever recorded for the second straight year.
 
Gun suicides rose by 8.3% from the previous year, totaling more than 26,328 deaths and amounting to the largest one-year increase in more than four decades, according to the study. Gun homicides rose by 7.6% from the previous year, amounting to 20,958 deaths.
 
Over the course of the pandemic, measured as all of 2020 and all of 2021, guns played a large role in the spike in violence. From 2019 to 2021, the CDC recorded the largest two-year increase in homicides ever – the gun-related homicide rate rose by 45%, while the non-gun homicide rate rose by 7%.