US saw biggest spike in gun violence in 50 years. Don’t panic yet.
Last year likely marked America’s largest single-year rise in gun violence in 50 years – sparked by a sharp increase in shootings after the pandemic began.
Though the FBI won’t release official numbers until the fall, Patrick Sharkey, a sociologist at Princeton University in New Jersey and an expert on violent crime, estimates the national murder rate rose by 25% to 30%. The rate of nonfatal shootings jumped even more, he says, doubling in many cities.
Amid a national conversation on policing,
Are we seeing a return to 1990s-level violence?Will everything go back to normal after the pandemic?What are the solutions?
