Thread by @washingtonpost

Through the first five months of 2021, gunfire killed more than 8,100 people in the United States, about 54 lives lost per day, according to a Post analysis of data from the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research organization. wapo.st/2U0I1iB

This year, the number of casualties, along with the overall number of shootings that have killed or injured at least one person, exceeds those of the first five months of 2020, which finished as the deadliest year of gun violence in at least two decades. wapo.st/3pP6bZm

Experts have attributed the increase to a variety of issues — including entrenched inequality, soaring gun ownership, and fraying relations between police and the communities they serve — all intensified during the pandemic and widespread uprisings for racial justice.

The Post’s analysis found an increase in shootings during summers, especially last year, echoing a trend that law enforcement officials and gun violence researchers have warned about for years. wapo.st/3gne59h

In July 2020, shooting deaths reached a peak of roughly 58 per day and continued, nearly unabated, around that level until early 2021.

Now, the numbers are rising again. wapo.st/3gne59h