Study shows 2020 gun violence breaks records with 45,222 US deaths

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - A recent Johns Hopkins study not only shows trends of gun violence going up, but indicates it was one of the leading national leading causes of death in 2020 and killing 124 people per day.

Firearm homicides rose 35-percent from 2019 to 2020, which brings gun violence numbers to the highest levels ever recorded.

In 2020, Johns Hopkins figures show there were 45-thousand gun deaths in the U.S. While black men, ages 15 to 34, were 20-times more likely to be a victim of gun homicide compared to their white counterparts.

The study says the leading cause of death for teens, children and young adults under 25 was gun violence. Where they were 10 times more likely to die because of a firearm than COVID-19.

Johns Hopkins indicates gun violence is not new, and documents that over the last four decades nearly one and a half million people have been killed by a firearm.

Meanwhile, here in Rapid City seven of the twelve homicides from 2020 involved guns.

Although homicides involving firearms rose heading into 2020, the CDC reports suicides using them remained the same.

Still, 53-percent of suicides involve a gun. Where the CDC says seven out of every 100-thousand people ten or older took their lives with a firearm.

The Front Porch Coalition is a local organization who offers suicidal people help during a crisis, and is also there to help loved ones recover after a suicide.

However, regardless of the method, Bridget Swier, Executive Director of the Front Porch Coalition, says they’re there to help. “It doesn’t really change things from our end, as far as helping get immediate support to them and getting law enforcement to them to make sure they’re safe.”

While the group says it’s usually men who are taking their lives using firearms, they say lately more women have been doing so.

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, know someone who is or are struggling with the loss of a loved one to suicide, the Front Porch Coalition encourages you to reach out to them.

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