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Gun Violence in American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

Introduction

Guns have been a part of Native and Indigenous life on the North American continent since European colonizers first arrived in the 1600s.1 For tens of thousands of years, hundreds of thousands of people belonging to a multitude of tribes lived across what is now known as the US.2 But the arrival of European colonizers and their firearms ushered in centuries of violence and death. 

One famous but tragically common example is the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, when the US government shot and killed 300 Native people for participating in a spiritual tradition known as Ghost Dancing.3 This deadly incident epitomizes centuries of violence where Native and Indigenous peoples endured colonization, genocide, and forced removal from their ancestral lands—all of which firearms played a key part in perpetrating.4 These violent legacies have persisted over time, manifesting as historical trauma which contributes to the high rates of gun violence seen today in this community.5 

However, firearms are also a source of cultural significance in Native and Indigenous communities. Many tribes rely on subsistence hunting as a main source of food and as a means of intergenerational teaching and learning.6 Some communities also use firearms in cultural practices.7  

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American Indian/Alaska Native

Roughly 5.8 million American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people live in the US today.8 Many belong to one of the 574 federally recognized tribes.9 While most Native people identify more with the tribe to which they belong, collectively the most common term for the entire group is American Indian.10 The federal government uses the term American Indian and Alaska Native to also encompass Indigenous peoples of Alaska. 

This memo will use data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which provides the most complete count of gun deaths among the AI/AN population. However, the counts provided by the CDC are almost certainly an undercount of the true scope of this problem. Studies have shown that deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives are substantially underreported due to medical examiners misidentifying AI/AN identity on death certificates.11 Data on police shootings is pulled from Mapping Police Violence, a national nonprofit which uses police and media reports to track incidents of police violence. 

Trends in Gun Violence

Every year, 475 American Indian and Alaska Natives die from gun violence.12 2020 saw 578 gun deaths among this group—the highest number on record.13 This peak in total gun deaths is the culmination of several years of rising violence. From 2000 to 2020, the total number of gun deaths among AI/AN people more than doubled, and from 2019 to 2020 alone, gun deaths in this group rose 34%.14 This increase was more than double the rate of increase nationally.15 

Firearm Suicide

American Indian and Alaska Native people are disproportionately burdened by our nation’s suicide epidemic, with young AI/AN people particularly impacted. In fact, from 2016 to 2020, more American Indian and Alaska Native people ages 10 to 34 died by suicide than by any other cause, including car crashes and opioid use.16  

A number of cultural forces are likely responsible for the stark disparities in AI/AN suicides compared to other groups. Pressure to acculturate, discrimination, and violence in the community—stemming from a legacy of historical trauma brought about by colonization, genocide, and relocation of Native peoples—have all been shown to contribute to suicides within this population.17 Additionally, AI/AN individuals face suicide risks that impact all communities,18 including friends and family members dying from suicide, alcohol and substance use, and feeling alienated from the community.19

Firearms also play an important and unique role in fueling suicides in AI/AN communities. Among all suicides in this country, more than half involve firearms—making firearms the most commonly used means of suicide.20 However, for AI/AN people, firearms are used in just 36% of all suicide deaths.21 This distribution, however, shows substantial variation by region and tribe.22 Of the 15 states with the largest proportions of AI/AN residents, guns were the most common means of AI/AN suicide in seven.23 In Alaska, where just under one in five residents identify as AI/AN, firearms are used in 51% of AI/AN suicides.24  

Importantly, despite the fact that guns are used in a smaller percent of suicides in AI/AN communities, AI/AN people die from gun suicide at the second-highest rate among all racial and ethnic groups.25 This disparity is even more pronounced among young AI/AN people, who have the highest gun suicide rate among racial/ethnic groups.26 AI/AN youth ages 10 to 24 die by suicide at a rate twice the national average among this age group.27  

Gun suicides in AI/AN communities are also rising, reaching the highest levels on record in 2020.28 In fact, the AI/AN gun suicide rate rose 34% over the last two decades.29 This increase disproportionately occurred among young AI/AN people: the gun suicide rate among 10–24 year old AI/AN people rose 63% over this same time period.30

Firearm Homicide

More than half of all AI/AN homicides are firearm homicides, and the AI/AN firearm homicide rate is 2.2 times higher than the gun homicide rate for non-Hispanic white people.31 Just as with firearm suicides, AI/AN firearm homicides vary by state and tribe. For example, in South Dakota, the AI/AN firearm homicide rate is 8.5 times higher than the non-Hispanic white rate.32 Alarmingly, the AI/AN firearm homicide rate has been on the rise, increasing 27% from 2019 to 2020.33  

Young AI/AN people make up the majority of firearm homicide victims within this group, with more than one in four (27%) AI/AN gun homicide victims under the age of 25 and nearly half (45%) under the age of 30. As seen in other demographic groups, AI/AN men are more likely to die in gun homicides than women. In fact, from 2003 to 2018, the firearm homicide rate among AI/AN men was three times higher than the rate among AI/AN women.34  

However, firearm homicides among AI/AN people are often related to intimate partner violence, with roughly two in five firearm homicides among AI/AN women connected to intimate partner violence.35Recent survey data shows that more than half of all AI/AN women have experienced physical intimate partner violence, and more than two-thirds have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner.36 Firearms play a dangerous role in increasing the lethality of intimate partner violence.37 Alarmingly, guns are used in nearly half of all AI/AN intimate partner homicides.38

Available data also shows that AI/AN women experience intimate partner homicides and violence at disproportionate rates compared to other demographic groups,39 with AI/AN women dying in gun homicides at a 37% higher rate than non-Hispanic white women.40 In response to this stark disparity and to call attention to the problem, Native activists have been leading the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement which seeks to raise awareness when Native women and girls are murdered or go missing.41 

Police Shootings

Although AI/AN tribes are sovereign nations, at least 70% are under the legal authority of police and sheriff’s departments from non-tribal communities.42 From 2017 to 2021, police shot and killed 88 AI/AN people.43 AI/AN people die from police shootings at a disproportionate rate—the second-highest rate among racial and ethnic groups. In fact, the fatal police shooting rate for AI/AN people is 1.6 times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic white people.44 

Importantly, however, these figures are likely an underestimate of the true toll of police violence in Native and Indigenous communities. Police shootings and killings of AI/AN people are significantly less likely to receive media coverage, with one study finding that of the 29 known Native people killed by police between May 2014 and October 2015, only two received any media coverage in the nation’s top 10 newspapers, with coverage of one of these shootings misidentifying the victim as Latino.45 Additionally, police shootings of AI/AN people are likely undercounted by federal data sources, both because of misclassification of race/ethnicity on death certificates and limited resources for tribes to collect and publish this data.46 

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Conclusion

Gun violence is a devastating and all-too-frequent event in AI/AN communities—and it has been this way for far too long. Meaningful steps to prevent gun suicides, intimate partner violence, and police shootings are long overdue. 

Culturally sensitive and community-led interventions represent one path forward for preventing gun violence and associated harms in AI/AN communities. These programs rely on community and tribal members to lead efforts to prevent gun suicides and other forms of gun violence, and engage with the many strengths of AI/AN communities including their strong sense of community, cultural identification, and spirituality.47 For example, multiple programs which provide safe storage counseling and access to safe storage devices in AI/AN communities have been found to lead to high numbers of people storing their firearms more safely48 and decreases in the number of guns stored unlocked.49  

These interventions—coupled with proven gun safety laws—can help reduce the toll of gun violence and keep AI/AN communities safe. 

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  1. David J. Silverman, “Guns, Empire and Indians,” Aeon, October 13, 2016, https://aeon.co/essays/how-did-the-introduction-of-guns-change-native-america.[↩]
  2. “Native American,” Library of Congress, last accessed September 26, 2022, https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/native-american/.[↩]
  3. Allen Salway, “Gun Violence Has a Major Impact on Native Communities in the United States,” Teen Vogue, June 14, 2018, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/gun-violence-has-a-major-impact-on-native-communities-in-the-united-states; “Disaster at Wounded Knee,” Library of Congress, last accessed September 26, 2022, https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/native-american/disaster-at-wounded-knee/; “Dec. 29, 1890: Wounded Knee Massacre,” Zinn Education Project, last accessed September 26, 2022, https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/anniversary-of-the-wounded-knee-massacre-2/.[↩]
  4. “Native American,” Library of Congress, last accessed September 26, 2022, https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/immigration/native-american/.[↩]
  5. Tony V. Pham et al., “Suicide Interventions for American Indian and Alaska Native Populations: A Systematic Review of Outcomes,” SSM – Mental Health 1 (2021): 100029, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277953614000707?via%3Dihub.[↩]
  6. Catherine E. Burnette, Caro B. Clark, and Christopher B. Rodning, “’Living Off the Land’: How Subsistence Promotes Well-being and Resilience Among Indigenous Peoples of the Southeastern United States,” Social Service Review 92, no. 3 (2018): 369–400; Lisa Wexler et al., “Describing Meanings and Practices Related to Firearms, Safety, and Household Storage in Rural Alaska Native Communities,” Journal of Rural Mental Health (2022).[↩]
  7. Lisa Wexler et al., “Describing Meanings and Practices Related to Firearms, Safety, and Household Storage in Rural Alaska Native Communities,” Journal of Rural Mental Health (2022).[↩]
  8. US Census Bureau, “DP05 ACS DEMOGRAPHIC AND HOUSING ESTIMATES,” American Community Survey 5-Year Estimate Data Profiles, 2020, https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=American%20Indian%20and%20Alaska%20Native&y=2020&tid=ACSDP5Y2020.DP05.[↩]
  9. “Tribal Nations & the United States: An Introduction,” National Congress of American Indians, last accessed September 26, 2022, https://www.ncai.org/about-tribes.[↩]
  10. National Museum of the American Indian, “Teaching & Learning about Native Americans,” Smithsonian, last accessed September 26, 2022, https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/faq/did-you-know.[↩]
  11. Jiaquan Xu et al., “Deaths: Final Data for 2019,” National Vital Statistics Reports 70, no. 8 (2021), https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/106058/cdc_106058_DS1.pdf; Elizabeth Arias et al., “The Validity of Race and Hispanic Origin Reporting on Death Certificates in the United States,” Vital and Health Statistics 2, no.148 (2008), https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_02/sr02_148.pdf.[↩]
  12. Based on an average of the five most recent years of available data: 2016 to 2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 1999–2020,” last accessed September 26, 2022, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
  13. The CDC has published mortality data since the 1960s. However, the CDC began publishing data on AI/AN mortality in 1981. Id.; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), “Leading Causes of Death Reports, 1981 – 2020,” last accessed September 26, 2022, www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars.[↩]
  14. In 2000, the number of AI/AN gun deaths was 240. In 2019, the number of AI/AN gun deaths was 432. In 2020, the number of AI/AN gun deaths was 578. Id.[↩]
  15. From 2019 to 2020, the number of total gun deaths nationally rose 14% from 39,707 in 2019 to 45,222 in 2020. Id.[↩]
  16. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), “Leading Causes of Death Reports, 1981 – 2020,” last accessed January 19, 2022, www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars.[↩]
  17. Tony V. Pham et al., “Suicide Interventions for American Indian and Alaska Native populations: A Systematic Review of Outcomes,” SSM – Mental Health 1 (2021); Raul Caetano et al., “Suicide, Alcohol Intoxication, and Age Among Whites and American Indians/Alaskan Natives,” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 44, no. 2 (2020): 492–500; Mark S. Kaplan, “Acute Alcohol Intoxication and Suicide: a Gender-stratified Analysis of the National Violent Death Reporting System,” Injury Prevention 19, no. 1 (2013): 38–43.[↩]
  18. “Suicide Prevention Risk and Protective Factors,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last accessed September 26, 2022, https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/factors/index.html.[↩]
  19. Tony V. Pham et al., “Suicide Interventions for American Indian and Alaska Native Populations: A Systematic Review of Outcomes,” SSM – Mental Health 1 (2021).[↩]
  20. From 2016 to 2020, 51% of suicides in the US involved firearms. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 1999–2020,” last accessed January 19, 2022, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
  21. Based on an average of the five most recent years of available data: 2016 to 2020. Id.[↩]
  22. “Suicide Clusters within American Indian and Alaska Native Communities: A Review of the Literature and Recommendations,” Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, HHS Publication No. SMA17-5050, 2017, https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/sma17-5050.pdf.[↩]
  23. The 15 states with the highest AI/AN population are Alaska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Montana, North Dakota, Arizona, Wyoming, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. Based on an average of the five most recent years of available firearm suicide data: 2016 to 2020. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 1999–2020,” last accessed January 19, 2022, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
  24. Id.[↩]
  25. Id.[↩]
  26. Id.[↩]
  27. Based on a comparison of firearm suicide deaths among non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Natives ages 10–24 to firearm suicide deaths among 10–24 year olds of all racial and ethnic groups. Id.[↩]
  28. Id.[↩]
  29. Id.[↩]
  30. Id.[↩]
  31. From 2016 to 2020, the age-adjusted AI/AN firearm homicide rate was 4.05 per 100,000 compared to the age-adjusted non-Hispanic white firearm homicide rate of 1.83 per 100,000. Id.[↩]
  32. From 2016 to 2020, the age-adjusted AI/AN firearm homicide rate in South Dakota was 8.41 per 100,000. The age-adjusted non-Hispanic white firearm homicide rate during the same period in the state was 0.99 per 100,000. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 1999–2020,” last accessed September 26, 2022, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
  33. Scott R. Kegler et al., “Vital Signs: Changes in Firearm Homicide and Suicide Rates — United States, 2019 – 2020,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports 71, no. 19 (2022): 656–663, http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7119e1.[↩]
  34. Emiko Petrosky et al., “Homicides of American Indians/Alaska Natives — National Violent Death Reporting System, United States, 2003–2018,” MMWR Surveillance Summaries 70, no. SS-8, (2021): 1–19, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/ss/ss7008a1.htm.[↩]
  35. Id.[↩]
  36. “Five Things About Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men,” National Institute of Justice, US Department of Justice, May 2016, https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/249815.pdf.[↩]
  37. J.C. Campbell et al., “Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results from a Multisite Case Control Study,” American Journal of Public Health 93, no.7 (2003): 1089–1097.[↩]
  38. Emiko Petrosky et al., “Racial and Ethnic Differences in Homicides of Adult Women and the Role of Intimate Partner Violence — United States, 2003–2014,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports 66, (2017): 741-746, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6628a1.htm.[↩]
  39. Michael O. Maume et al., “Social Isolation and Weapon Use in Intimate Partner Violence Incidents in Rural Areas,” International Journal of Rural Criminology 2, no. 2 (2014); Ronet Bachman et al., “Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and the Criminal Justice Response: What Is Known,” US Department of Justice, August 2008, https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/223691.pdf.[↩]
  40. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 1999–2020,” last accessed January 19, 2022, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
  41. “The Search for Jermain & The Epidemic of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women,” KALW, May 27, 2021, https://www.kalw.org/show/your-call/2021-05-27/the-search-for-jermain-the-epidemic-of-missing-murdered-indigenous-women; 1A, “The Search For Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women,” NPR, August 25, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/08/20/904292782/the-search-for-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women; “MMIWG2S,” Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, last accessed October 3, 2022, https://www.csvanw.org/mmiw/.[↩]
  42. Maggie Koerth, “Police Violence Against Native Americans Goes Far Beyond Standing Rock,” FiveThirtyEight, December 2, 2016, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/police-violence-against-native-americans-goes-far-beyond-standing-rock/.[↩]
  43. Mapping Police Violence uses Native American to identify this racial group. AI/AN was substituted here for consistency with other sections of this memo. Mapping Police Violence, “National Trends,” last accessed September 26, 2022, https://mappingpoliceviolence.squarespace.com/.[↩]
  44. Id.[↩]
  45. Jean Reith Schroedel and Roger J. Chin, “Whose Lives Matter: The Media’s Failure to Cover Police Use of Lethal Force Against Native Americans,” Race and Justice 10, no. 2 (2020): 150–175.[↩]
  46. Maggie Koerth, “Police Violence Against Native Americans Goes Far Beyond Standing Rock,” FiveThirtyEight, December 2, 2016, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/police-violence-against-native-americans-goes-far-beyond-standing-rock/.[↩]
  47. Tony V. Pham et al., “Suicide Interventions for American Indian and Alaska Native Populations: A Systematic Review of Outcomes,” SSM – Mental Health 1 (2021); Catherine E. McKinley et al., “Community-engaged and Culturally Relevant Research to Develop Behavioral Health Interventions with American Indians and Alaska Natives,” American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research 26, no. 3 (2019).[↩]
  48. A. Horn et al., “Community based program to improve firearm storage practices in rural Alaska,” Injury Prevention 9, (2003): 231-234.[↩]
  49. David C. Grossman et al., “Improving Firearm Storage in Alaska Native Villages: A Randomized Trial of Household Gun Cabinets,” American Journal of Public Health 102, no. S2, (2012): S291-S297.[↩]

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