In the first 24 hours of the new year, 264 separate incidents of gun violence happened across the United States, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive and Vox.
At least 64 people were killed, and another 146 were injured.
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The incidents include 24 shootings apiece in Chicago and Jacksonville, Florida; seven shootings in New York City; six shootings each in Baltimore and Buffalo, New York; and five each in Cleveland and Indianapolis.
Generally, New Year’s Day — which is associated with drinking and partying — is a bit more violent than the typical day of the year. But looking over the incidents reveals a pattern of gun violence that is commonplace in America.
The victims included a 1-year-old, teens, and a mother and daughter
The gunfire began as soon as the clock struck midnight on January 1 and did not let up as the day wore on.
Shortly after midnight in Ellicott City, Maryland, a 15-year-old male suspect broke into the house of a 16-year-old girl and shot her and her 52-year-old mother, killing the girl and injuring the mother. The women had just returned home from a New Year’s party with relatives.
At 4 am, a father and his 19-year-old son were murdered by an unidentified gunman in Detroit.
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In Miami, at approximately 6 pm, seven people — including three teenagers — were injured in a drive-by shooting as they celebrated the new year outside their home. “We had just gotten into 2017, and here it is already,” one of the victim’s mothers told the local news. “I never would have imagined that my kids would have been caught in gunfire.”
“Something needs to be done,” said another victim’s mother. “We’re not going to have a generation, because they’re all being killed.”
Around 8 pm in Columbia, South Carolina, a family of four was found shot to death in their home in what police suspect was a murder-suicide. Among the victims were two children, ages 4 and 1.
Gun violence is showing no signs of slowing in 2017
As of the morning of January 5, 2017, the number of shootings has risen to more than 500 total, resulting in at least 113 deaths and 288 injuries. The victims include six children ages 11 or under and 28 teenagers.
This averages out to around 100 people killed or injured each day of 2017 by gun violence in the United States — not too far off from the average over the past two years.
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With the coming of the new year, we’ll be seeing a new president, a new Congress, and the enacting of new policies.
As my colleague German Lopez has written (and backed with copious data), “More guns mean more gun deaths, and more restrictions on guns mean fewer guns and fewer gun deaths.”
But President-elect Donald Trump — who emphasized “law and order” during his campaign — has taken the opposite position on gun rights: “The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon. Period.”
So far, gun violence has not slowed in 2017. And unless Trump reconsiders his policies, things very well may get worse from here.
