2020 was the deadliest gun violence year in decades with nearly 20,000 Americans killed by guns, and that does not include another nearly 24,000 people who died by suicide with a gun. The vast majority of these tragedies happened far from the glare of the national spotlight, unfolding instead in homes, places of business, on city streets, etc. and disproportionately affecting communities of color.
Shooting deaths in 2020 outpaced the next-highest recent year, 2017, by more than 3,600. The rise resembles other alarming trends: Last year, the United States saw the highest one-year increase in homicides since it began keeping records, with the largest cities suffering a 30% spike. Gunshot injuries also rose dramatically, to nearly 40,000, over 8,000 more than in 2017.
Let me emphasize that the numbers illustrated above do NOT include suicides using a gun which totaled nearly 24,000 in 2020. If we include suicides along with other gun deaths, more than 100 Americans are killed daily by gun violence, with the majority in Black and Brown communities.
Unfortunately, things look even worse so far in 2021. By almost every measure, 2021 has already been a terrible year for gun violence. Through the first five months of 2021, gunfire killed more than 8,100 people in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research organization. That’s 14 more deaths per day than the average toll during the same period of the previous six years.
Many fear it will get worse. In the second weekend of this month, more than 120 people died in (non-suicide) shootings, according to the Gun Violence Archive, with three especially dangerous incidents in Austin, Chicago and Savannah which left several dead and dozens wounded.
As I have reported previously, firearm sales exploded in 2020. Last year, people purchased an estimated 23 million guns, a 64% increase over 2019 sales, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal data on gun background checks. This figure includes handguns and long guns. Sales in June alone last year were 2.5 million, the highest month on record.
Speaking of background checks, here’s an interesting factoid I ran across while working on this piece: The number of people stopped from buying guns through the US background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid the surge of firearm sales.
Why Are Gun & Ammo Sales Exploding All of a Sudden?
There seems to be some confusion in the mainstream media over why gun sales have exploded in the last year. They just don’t seem to understand it. This shouldn’t surprise us – the mainstream media is clueless about the real concerns of the American people, especially when it comes to guns.
The fact is America entered a new wave of gun violence over a year ago, and it has remained high since. Multiple-victim shootings in particular spiked to a record high in the second half of last year and still remain elevated. People feel the need to protect themselves.
Meanwhile, the “defund the police” movement continues around the country, even though surveys show around 80% of Americans do not support this view. Most prefer more police, not less. This movement which is driven almost entirely by the left has intensified Americans’ concern for their safety and thus, increased gun sales – half of which are reportedly by first-time firearm buyers.
While the level of violent crime in America has been declining for the last decade, it started creeping up last summer, a trend criminologists say is likely due to a variety of factors such as high unemployment, fear over the virus and anger over stay-at-home orders.
While those are the most commonly-cited reasons for the spike in gun sales over the last year, I have another theory. I believe many Americans, especially first-time firearm buyers, have done so because they fear the Biden administration will move to implement new gun control laws as soon as they feel they can do so. President Biden promised as much when he was campaigning.
In fact, the president gave a major speech yesterday in which he focused on the sharp increase in violent crime and guns in particular. While the president warned of increased scrutiny on gun dealers going forward, he stopped short of issuing any new restrictions on firearms. Of course, that doesn’t mean there won’t be further gun control laws in the near future.
What’s next, Gary? Blame Biden for increasing gun violence that started rising a YEAR BEFORE he took office? Gun control? You yourself point out that 300k people were stopped from buying guns due to background checks. Undoubtedly that number would be a lot higher if the gun show and “private sale” loopholes were closed. That’s really all “the left” wants; at least those that understand “the art of the possible”
As soon as I looked at the title that you would try to blame Joe Biden for this, and I wasn’t disappointed.