Gun violence deaths in the United States have increased over time, a new study finds, with more victims dying at the scene of a shooting before being transported to medical treatment facilities.
search that was published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association examined incidents of gun violence from 1999 to 2021, including gun deaths due to assault, unintentional injury, and unknown intent.
Using data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers discovered that the percentage of fatalities at the scene increased from about 52% in 1999 to nearly 57% in 2021.
almost 49,000 People died of gun violence in the United States in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The research letter summarizing the study said that this increase in deaths was likely due to several factors, including higher gun sales, social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and “the lack of new federal firearms legislation.”
The researchers found that the types of guns used for shootings also contributed to the increase.
“Studies indicate that both the risk and lethality of firearm injuries have increased, in part due to larger magazine capacity and the increased use of higher-caliber weapons,” the research letter states.
A doctor works at a hospital that treated victims of last week’s Nashville school shooting in which six people were killed, he told CBS News Tuesday Many shooting victims do not reach hospitals before they succumb to their injuries due to the types of guns used.
“Obviously, there’s not much we can do in trauma rooms, unless people reach out to us so we can help save them and do what we’re trained to do,” said Dr. Jay Willons, chief of pediatrics. Neurosurgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “The challenge is, with these truly devastating weapons, we can’t do the job.”
The study said that the data used in the research did not include information about self-inflicted shootings, as most deaths in those scenarios occur at the scene.
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