The number of gun-related homicides in the United States increased by 30 percent from 2014 to 2016, according to a new analysis from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The analysis found that gun-related homicides, the most prevalent among the three most common methods of homicide in the country, rose from 11,008 deaths in 2014 to 14,415 deaths in 2016, after a relatively stable four-year period.
The CDC tracks this data through a database of mortality and population counts for all U.S. counties. The CDC found that, overall, nearly 75 percent of the 17,793 homicides recorded in a national 2015 survey were committed with a firearm.
The National Rifle Association, which opposes government-funded research on gun violence, has yet to comment on the CDC’s latest findings. “Gun control supporters in the public health field claim that gun violence is an ‘epidemic,’ but gun violence is alien to most people’s experiences,” the NRA says on its website.
The CDC’s findings indicate otherwise.
