After 15 years of no real change, the rate for gun deaths in the United States has increased for the second straight year. Government report indicates that about two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides and their number has been getting bigger and bigger during the last ten years. There is also an increase of the number of the homicides where people are shot dead by others.
In general, the report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that gun-related death rate has increased to 12 deaths for 100,000 people. In 2015 the rate was 11 deaths per 100,000 people.
In the early 1990’s the rate was as high as 15 deaths per 100,000 people, Associated Press reports. The increase in number of homicides in Chicago and other places has been the main contributor for the growth of the rate in the past two years. FBI’s raw numbers show that last year there were about 11,000 gun-related homicides, while in 2015 their number was about 9,600. CDC’s report shows that last year there were more than 38,000 gun-related deaths. That’s about two thousand gun deaths more than in 2015.
“The latest CDC report means the nation is approaching two decades since there’s been any substantial improvement in the rate of gun deaths,” said Dr. Garen Wintemute, gun violence researcher at the University of California, Davis.
According to Wintemute, the fact that the rate for the first three months of the year was about the same as the rate for the same period last year was a sign that it would level off again. CDC’s chief of mortality statistics Bob Anderson says that it’s too early to know what is happening this year because most gun deaths happen in warm weather. The report shows an increase of the number of deaths from drug overdoses. The rate was 20 per 100,000 for 2016, while in 2015 was 16 per 100,000.
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