Gun violence in public locations is at an all-time high. We are now having debates about what would be best to mitigate some of this violence, which should’ve been done before these incidents. This debate will continue for months or possibly years. Hospitals, like schools, are not typically designed to guard against the threat of a determined gunman entering the building to take lives.
More Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2020 than in any other year on record, according to recently published statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That included a record number of gun murders, as well as a near-record number of gun suicides. Despite the increase in such fatalities, the rate of gun deaths – a statistic that accounts for the nation’s growing population remains below the levels of earlier years.
Here’s a closer look at gun deaths in the United States, based on a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the CDC, the FBI, and other sources.
How many people die from gun-related injuries in the U.S. each year?
As of late, we’ve seen how vulnerable our schools, churches, healthcare facility, and grocery store are. On June 3, 2022, a gunman parked his car in an adjoining garage, then
went through unlocked doors into the medical building, authorities said. It is an entry that is open to the public. He was able to walk in without any type of challenge. On May 14, 2022, a mass shooting occurred in Buffalo, New York, at a Tops Friendly Markets store, a supermarket in the East Side neighborhood. Ten Black people were killed and three other people were injured. On May 24, 2022, a gunman fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers and wounded seventeen other people, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Earlier in the day, he shot his grandmother in the forehead at home, severely wounding her. incidents such as these can go on and on.
As security consultants, many questions come to mind for many of us in this profession. Now is the time for businesses to take a hard look at their security posture and consider what could be done better to ensure
the safety of their employees and the public in some cases. We can’t continue to have these debates over and over without any action being taken.
Regardless of any definition that is used, fatalities in mass shooting incidents in the U.S. account for a small fraction of all gun murders that occur nationwide each year.
How has the number of mass shootings in the U.S. changed over time?
