The United States saw gun deaths reach record levels in 2021, according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
Firearm-related deaths soared during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and spiked again in the second year.
Both gun-related homicides and suicides resulted in 48,830 total firearm fatalities in 2021. It is the highest number on record to date and an increase of over 3,600 deaths from 2020, the previous record.
An average of 134 people died from gun violence daily—one death every 11 minutes—according to the report (pdf).
The report also found that more than half of all firearm deaths (26,328) were due to suicide. The firearm suicide rate increased by 8.3 percent in 2021, marking the highest one-year increase in four decades….