CDC report: Firearms deaths total highest in 25 years

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study looking at firearm-related deaths in 2019 and 2020 found firearm-related homicides in 2020 totaled the highest in 25 years.

The CDC has not released a firearms related study since 1994.

According to the report, many factors contributed to the increase in firearms deaths.

Dr. Virginia Caine, medical director of the Marion County Public Health Department, says the study is spot on for what is happening in Marion County. “And let’s just say we think, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, might have exacerbated existing social and economic stressors.”

Caine added, “We are trying to address the systemic and racial inequities that have further exposed the realities of this crisis.”

The study says that the stressors of the pandemic likely contributed to the rise in violence, due to changes and disruptions to services and education; mental stress; social isolation; and economic stressors including job loss, housing instability and difficulty to cover daily expenses.

Black men saw a 39% in increase in homicides, the largest of any group, the study showed.

According to the study, economic inequalities played a major role in firearm-related homicides. Counties with the highest poverty levels had firearm homicide rates 4½ times as high and firearm suicide rates 1.3 times as high as counties with higher income levels.

In 2020, Indianapolis set a record number for homicides, only to break it again in 2021. Caine said, “It has got to be a public health emergency for us because as far as I’m concerned one youth who dies is too many. One youth unnecessarily that dies as far as I’m concerned is a crisis.”

Caine says Marion County is making some improvements. “I think we are seeing our numbers steadily go down. I think we are turning that corner.”

However, she cautions, the continued stress of inflation and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continue to contribute to violence in Indianapolis.