US gun deaths

The US gun death rate last year hit its highest mark in nearly three decades, and the rate among women has been growing faster than that of men, according to study published yesterday. Among black women, the rate of firearm-related homicides more than tripled since 2010, and the rate of gun-related suicides more than doubled since 2015, Fleegler and his co-authors wrote in the paper published by JAMA Network Open. The research is one of the most comprehensive analyses of US gun deaths in years, said David Hemenway, director of the Harvard University’s Injury Control Research Center. In October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data on US firearm deaths last year, counting more than 47,000 — the most in at least 40 years. America’s gun-related homicide and suicide rates both rose 8 per cent last year, each hitting levels not seen since the early 1990s.