Among small U.S. counties, Anderson County had 5th highest gun-related death rate in 2020
Ja'Naiya Scott would be approaching high school.
But in the summertime darkness of 2019, someone fired more than 35 shots at Ja'Naiya's home on West End Avenue in Anderson. The 11-year-old died an hour later in a hospital emergency room.
Josiah Tate would be in sixth grade.
Tate didn't get to experience playing in his first sports game or trying to play an instrument for the first time, because in 2012, the 2-year-old fatally shot himself with a deputy's gun.
Rebecca Sorrow would still be nearing retirement.
But the 71-year-old known as Becky was shot to death in her home last month in a neighborhood by Lake Hartwell.
Anderson County had the fifth highest gun-related death rate in 2020 among small U.S. counties, a report by BackgroundChecks.org showed. A small county was designated by having 200K–350K people.
There were 66 people fatally shot in 2020 across the county and 49 people in 2021, according to the Anderson County Coroner's Office. Those numbers reflect suicide, homicide and accidental deaths.
Though the study centers on the pandemic year, 2021 saw a significant decrease in gun-related death by suicides.
Story continues after graphic.
Out of the gun-related deaths in Anderson County over the past several years, county coroner Greg Shore has noticed three recurring causes:
Drug-related violence
Domestic violence
Accidental deaths
Opioid misuse at epidemic levels: 2020 was an unprecedented year for overdoses in Anderson
Overall, there were 32.8 gun-related deaths for every 100,000 Anderson County residents in 2020, according to the study, which uses data from federal Centers for Disease Control's WONDER Database showed.
From 2019 to 2020, the United States experienced a 13.9% increase in the total number of gun-related deaths. Anderson County, SC experienced a 48.9% increase over the same period, the study said.
Here is a summary of the data for Anderson County, SC, found in the 2020 study:
Total gun-related deaths per 100k:
Anderson: 32.8
U.S.: 13.6
Total gun-related deaths:
Anderson: 67
U.S.: 45,221
Change in gun-related deaths since 2019:
Anderson: +48.9%
U.S.: +13.9%
Gun-related homicides as a share of total homicides:
Anderson: 83.9%
U.S.: 76.4%
Gun-related suicides as a share of total suicides:
Anderson: 71.2%
U.S.: 51.2%
Jack Logan, founder of Put Down The Guns Now Young People, said he won't forget Tate's death or the many others that have taken place in the last decade. The organization's purpose is to educate children and teens about the repercussions of gun violence.
Logan said there has to be harsher sentencing for drive-by shootings and incidents where a child is harmed by the bullet. In Anderson, gun violence isn't a big issue with teenagers but more so with adults, he said.
"We've got to do something to put a cap on people getting killed, shot."
From the study: The data used in this analysis is from the CDC’s WONDER Database. To identify the locations with the most gun deaths, researchers at BackgroundChecks.org calculated the rates of gun-related deaths per 100,000 residents in 2020. In the event of a tie, the location with the greater total number of gun-related deaths in 2020 was ranked higher. To provide additional context, researchers also calculated the proportion of all homicides and suicides that involve a gun, using data from 2018–2020.
Sarah Sheridan is the community reporter in Anderson. She'd appreciate your help telling important stories; reach her at ssheridan@gannett.com or on twitter @saralinasher.
This article originally appeared on Anderson Independent Mail: Anderson County had 5th highest gun-related death rate in 2020
