Gun deaths surged to 20-year high amid pandemic, CDC reports

The rate of Americans killed by guns during the first year of the pandemic surged across the country to a level not seen since 1994, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

"This was the largest increase — it was a 35% increase from 2019 to 2020 – and this was the highest number of firearm homicides in 20 years," said Dr. Deb Houry, head of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. 

Experts say the increase in gun deaths was unprecedented in recent decades: a report released late last month from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions analyzing the federal data described the surge in gun homicides as "the largest one-year increase in modern history."