Abstract

Gun violence is a leading cause of death in the United States. Understanding the geospatial patterns of gun violence and how the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected them is essential for developing evidence-based prevention strategies. This study investigates whether COVID-19 altered the geospatial patterns of gun violence in Syracuse, New York.

To assess spatial and temporal trends, we analyzed the annual total gunshots (ATG) from 2009–2023 aggregated in census block groups and applied geospatial techniques including mean center, standard distance, Moran’s I, and Getis-Ord Gi*. The ATG number was higher before the pandemic than during the pandemic, something not observed in other studies. Its geographic centers before and during the pandemic clustered within or near one census block and the associated standard distance remained similar between the two periods.

Both global patterns and local clusters of ATG in the two periods not only showed similar patterns and consistent local hotspots located in similar areas, but also logarithmically related to the ATG number with statistical significance, suggesting that gun violence rates intensified within established areas rather than spreading citywide and demonstrated a similar distance-decay effect in both periods.

This effect suggests that the incidence of gunshots diminished with increasing distance from the core concentrated zone, challenging assumptions of spatial spillover or contagion models in crime studies. These findings suggest that entrenched structural conditions, such as neighborhood-level socioeconomic disparities, are the primary drivers of gun violence patterns, rather than temporary pandemic-related policies.

Methodologically, the study highlights the importance of long-term, meso-scale geospatial analyses to uncover persistent violence dynamics and guide preventive interventions. We argue that future violence prevention strategies should focus on enduring geospatial patterns of gun violence and their underlying structural determinants, rather than reacting solely to short-term fluctuations in incident frequency.