The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic saw the highest firearm homicide rates since 1994, with substantial increases among Black and American Indian/Alaska Native males and young adults, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
From 2019 to 2020, homicides involving firearms rose 35 percent to 6.1 per 100,000 people, with the largest increase occurring among Black males between the ages of 10 and 44 and American Indian/Alaska Native males between the ages of 25 and 44.
The increase widened racial and ethnic disparities in firearm homicide deaths, the CDC said. From 2019 to 2020, the firearm homicide rate for Black people between the ages of 10 and 24 was more than 21 times higher than for white people in the same age group.
