Pew Research says U.S. gun deaths surged in 2020

Photo taken on April 13, 2021 shows 40,000 white silk flowers installed on the National Mall to honor the nearly 40,000 Americans who die every year from gun violence in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

More Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2020 than in any other year on record, a recent study by the Pew Research Center has revealed.

The 45,222 total gun deaths in 2020 were by far the most on record, representing a 14% increase from the year before, a 25% increase from five years earlier and a 43% increase from a decade prior, said the research.

In 2020, suicides, murders and law enforcement accounted for the majority of U.S. gun deaths, according to recently published statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The research said that “The gun death rate in the U.S. is much higher than in most other nations, particularly developed nations”.