Gun Violence in Black Communities

• Alex Nguyen
• Kelly Drane
• February 23, 2023

For decades, gun violence has taken a disproportionate and grueling toll on Black communities—leading to tens of thousands of gun deaths and hundreds of thousands of gun injuries. The impact of gun violence on this community is particularly devastating for young Black men. In 2022, one in every 67 Black men ages 18 to 24 in Philadelphia were killed or injured in gun homicides or shootings.¹ In Rochester, New York, it was one in 50 young Black men.² In Cincinnati, it was one in 44 young Black men.³

The vast majority of shootings in these cities—and in similar communities across the country—are perpetrated by a very small number of people.⁴ But the impacts of this violence are felt across entire communities, contributing to generations of trauma and collective grief that have disproportionately affected Black people. 

Importantly, gun violence in Black communities is a direct cause and consequence of the systematic, structural disadvantaging of these populations. Research shows that high rates of gun violence seen today have been forged by past and present racial discrimination, including historic racial segregation and disinvestment.⁵ As gun violence plagues these communities, it leads to diminished economic opportunities and a lack of investment, creating a vicious cycle.⁶ This reality provides not only a strong impetus for action, but also a reminder that solutions to this problem must address the underlying inequalities driving gun violence in Black communities. 

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Gun violence touches every community and every racial group in the United States, but none more so than Black communities. In fact, Black Americans die from gun violence at nearly 2.4 times the rate of white Americans.⁷ On average, more than 12,400 Black people die from gun violence each year, with 15,548 such deaths in 2021 alone—the highest number on record.⁸

Alarmingly, nearly all forms of gun violence have been rising among Black Americans. Firearm homicides rose 61% from 2018 to 2021.⁹ Firearm suicide, unintentional shooting, and police shooting deaths have also shown troubling increases over this same time period (44%, 10%, and 13%, respectively).¹⁰  

The vast majority of gun deaths among Black Americans are gun homicides, and Black Americans make up the majority of gun homicide victims in the US. In fact, 83% of all gun deaths among Black Americans are gun homicides.¹¹ Despite the fact that Black boys and men account for just six percent of the total population, they comprise more than half of all gun homicide victims.¹² 

The disparities in Black and white homicide rates are particularly stark in large cities and counties. Research suggests that roughly half of all gun homicides take place in just 127 cities,¹³ driving the elevated rates of homicides in these geographies. In the nation’s 20 largest counties, Black men ages 18 to 25 die from gun homicides at a rate nearly 19 times that of white residents.¹⁴ This disparity means that while five out of every 100,000 young white people in these counties die from gun homicides, more than one in every 10,000 young Black people are killed in such incidents.¹⁵ 

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Homicide has been the leading cause of death for Black men ages 15 to 44 for more than half a century.¹⁶ More than 86% of homicides in Black communities involve firearms.¹⁷ These disparities are even more striking for young Black men: gun homicides are the leading cause of death and more than outstrip the next 15 leading causes of death combined.¹⁸ In other words, in 2021, more Black men ages 15 to 24 died in gun homicides than from unintentional injuries, suicide, heart disease, COVID-19, cancer, nonfirearm homicides, diabetes, congenital abnormalities, and chronic respiratory diseases, police shootings, cerebrovascular diseases, anemias, sepsis, influenza and pneumonia, and HIV combined.¹⁹  

Gun violence is also the leading cause of death for Black children, in large part because of the severe burden of gun homicides on this population. In fact, while gun violence only recently became the leading cause of death for all children in 2020, gun violence has been the leading cause of death for Black children since 2006.²⁰ Seventy-three percent of gun deaths among Black children are gun homicides, and, in 2021, Black children were nearly 13 times more likely to be killed in a gun homicide than white children.²¹    

The recent spikes in gun homicide have devastated Black communities in particular. While the gun homicide rate rose 45% nationally from 2019 to 2021, Black Americans experienced a 49% increase.²² The gun homicide rate for young Black boys and men ages 10 to 44 rose 43% over this time period.²³ Importantly, while gun homicides predominately impact Black men, Black women have seen troubling increases in gun homicides in recent years. Gun homicide rates for Black women and girls rose 78% from 2019 to 2021, the largest increase among women for any racial or ethnic group.²⁴ 

The toll of our nation’s gun violence epidemic, however, extends beyond gun deaths and injuries. The high rates of gun violence in Black communities lead to more exposure to gun violence. In fact, Black boys and men not only are the most likely victims of gun violence but also are exposed to gun violence most often.²⁵ For example, more than half of all Black youth in one study lived less than a mile away from a gun homicide.²⁶ These exposures traumatize communities, leading to and exacerbating mental health problems like elevated levels of psychological distress, depression, and suicidal ideation.²⁷ In one study, researchers found that children who lived within a few blocks of a shooting were nearly 50% more likely to seek mental health care at an emergency department.²⁸ 

While Black male youth are the most likely to experience gun violence and particularly gun homicides, entire communities grieve and mourn losses inflicted by firearm homicide. Black girls and women are often tasked with providing care in the aftermath of loss.²⁹ One scholar describes this as a “living death” or a “…‘second killing’ of Black women and girls who are forced to relive the trauma of vicarious, violent loss at the hands of others.”³⁰  

In the US, the vast majority of gun suicide deaths have involved white people: over the last 20 years, in fact, white people have comprised 86% of all suicide deaths.³¹ However, more recent data suggests a worrying trend. Suicide and gun suicide rates have risen for every racial and ethnic group in recent years, with Black people seeing a more rapid increase in such rates compared to white people. From 2018 to 2021, gun suicide rates increased just four percent for white people, but 44% for Black people.³²  

Gun suicide increases—and the racial disparities in these increases—are particularly pronounced for Black youth. From 2018 to 2021, the firearm suicide rate for Black people ages 10 to 24 rose 58%.³³ During the same period, the firearm suicide rate rose only 18% for 10-to-24-year-olds overall, and 11% for white youth in this age range.³⁴ 

On average, nearly 3,400 Black Americans die by suicide each year, more than half (53%) of which involve firearms.³⁵ However, scholarship suggests that these numbers likely undercount the burden of suicide in this community. Black Americans face numerous barriers to accessing mental health care,³⁶ meaning that medical examiners are less likely to have sufficient data to accurately determine and classify deaths in these communities as suicides.³⁷

The sharp disparities in gun violence impacting Black Americans also extend to police shootings. More than one in four fatal police shootings involves a Black victim, though Black Americans make up just 14% of the US population.³⁸ When compared to all other racial and ethnic groups, Black Americans experience the highest rate of fatal police shootings.³⁹ Police fatally shoot Black Americans at three times the rate they fatally shoot white Americans.⁴⁰ One study showed that Black Americans are just as likely to be shot and killed by law enforcement if they are unarmed as white Americans who are armed.⁴¹ 

Recent research also suggests that Black–white disparities in police shootings were even more pronounced for nonfatal police shooting injuries.⁴² For example, researchers found that in Florida, Black people were approximately three times as likely as white people to be fatally shot by police, yet more than five times as likely as white people to be nonfatally shot by police.⁴³ 

The consequences of police violence, however, extend beyond the shooting itself and its traumatic impact. Research is clear that shootings by police can erode community trust in law enforcement.⁴⁸ Fractures in police-community trust, in turn, can fuel cycles of community gun homicides and shootings that disproportionately impact Black people.⁴⁹ 

GET THE FACTS

Gun violence is a complex problem, and while there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, we must act. Our reports bring you the latest cutting-edge research and analysis about strategies to end our country’s gun violence crisis at every level.

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The statistics on gun deaths among Black Americans paint a grim picture, but we should not be resigned that this toll and these disparities are inevitable.  

Evidence-based gun safety laws can help address the epidemic of gun violence in Black communities. Recent research has found that specific policies, like waiting periods,⁵⁰ firearm licensing laws,⁵¹ and strong public carry laws⁵² all reduce homicides in Black communities. Importantly, many of these policies enjoy strong support from Black Americans. A poll of Black Americans and Black gun owners found that these groups support a number of gun safety laws, in many cases at higher rates than white Americans and white gun owners.⁵³ 

These policy reforms must also be coupled with direct investments in community-led violence intervention programs. Community violence intervention programs engage individuals at highest risk of being victims or perpetrators—or both—of violence through a variety of strategies including building relationships and providing supportive social services, addressing conflict through nonviolent means like de-escalation and mediation, and working to support community healing from violence. At their core, these programs ​​directly invest in communities and the people in them, with many programs helping to address systemic inequalities by meeting the economic, educational, health, and social needs of the participants and their families. Many communities have been employing these strategies for years, but dedicated, stable investments are needed to scale and sustain these programs. 

Black communities have disproportionately shouldered our nation’s gun violence epidemic for decades, and will continue to do so unless we take concerted, community-driven steps to address this public health crisis. It is imperative—from an equity perspective, a moral perspective, and a human perspective—that we support these communities in reducing gun violence.  

SPOTLIGHT

GUN VIOLENCE STATISTICS

Explore facts, figures, and original analysis compiled by our experts. To end our gun violence crisis, we need to better understand where, how, and why violence occurs.

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1. Calculated by Giffords Law Center using data from the city of Philadelphia and the US Census. “Shooting Victims Dashboard,” City of Philadelphia, last accessed February 8, 2023, https://data.phila.gov/visualizations/shooting-victims; US Census Bureau, “Explore Census Data,” last accessed February 8, 2023, https://data.census.gov/.[↩]
2. Calculated by Giffords Law Center using data from the Rochester Police Department and the US Census. “Rochester NY Shooting Victims,” Rochester Police Department Open Data, last accessed February 8, 2023, https://data-rpdny.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/rpdny::rochester-ny-shooting-victims/explore; US Census Bureau, “Explore Census Data,” last accessed February 8, 2023, https://data.census.gov/.[↩]
3. Calculated by Giffords Law Center using data from the City of Cincinnati and the US Census. “PDI (Police Data Initiative) CPD Shootings,” City of Cincinnati, last accessed February 8, 2023, https://data.cincinnati-oh.gov/safety/PDI-Police-Data-Initiative-CPD-Shootings/7a3r-kxji/data.[↩]
4. Anthony A. Braga et al., “Oakland Ceasefire Evaluation: Final Report to the City of Oakland,” City of Oakland, May 2019, https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Oakland-Ceasefire-Evaluation-Final-Report-May-2019.pdf; “Gun Violence Problem Analysis Summary Report,” National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, December 2021, https://cjcc.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/cjcc/release_content/attachments/DC%20Gun%20Violence%20Problem%20Analysis%20Summary%20Report.pdf.[↩]
5. Michael Poulson et al., “Historic Redlining, Structural Racism, and Firearm Violence: a Structural Equation Modeling Approach,” The Lancet Regional Health–Americas 3 (2021).[↩]
6. Yasemin Irvin-Erickson et al., “Gun Violence Affects the Economic Health of Communities,” The Urban Institute, June 2, 2017, https://www.urban.org/research/publication/gun-violence-affects-economic-health-communities; Daniel Kim, “Social Determinants of Health in Relation to Firearm-related Homicides in the United States: a Nationwide Multilevel Cross-sectional Study,” PLoS Medicine 16, no. 12 (2019).[↩]
7. From 2018 to 2021, the age-adjusted gun death rate among Black Americans was 27.53. During this same period, the age-adjusted gun death rate among Non-Hispanic whites was 11.63. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 2018-2021, Bridged Race” last accessed February 10, 2023, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
8. Based on an average from 2018 to 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 2018-2021, Bridged Race” last accessed February 10, 2023, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
9. There were 8,027 firearm homicides in 2018 among Black Americans and 12,921 in 2021. Id.[↩]
10. In 2018, there were 1,531 firearm suicide deaths, 107 unintentional shooting deaths, and 244 police shooting deaths among Black Americans. In 2021, there were 2,212 firearm suicide deaths, 155 unintentional shooting deaths, and 275 police shooting deaths among Black Americans. Id. Mapping Police Violence, “National Trends,” last accessed August 22, 2022, https://mappingpoliceviolence.squarespace.com/.[↩]
11. From 2018 to 2021, there were 41,438 firearm homicides and 49,966 total gun deaths among Black Americans. Id.[↩]
12. From 2018 to 2021, Black men experienced 36,597 firearm homicides and had a population of 85,137,967. Nationally, there were 68,714 firearm homicides and a total population of 1,316,784,825. Id.[↩]
13. Aliza Aufrichtig et al., “Want to Fix Gun Violence in America? Go Local,” Guardian, January 9, 2017, https://bit.ly/2i6kaKw.[↩]
14. Based on 2016 to 2020 rates. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 1999–2020, Bridged Race” last accessed February 7, 2023, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
15. 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 February 10, 2023, www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars.[↩]
17. From 2018 to 2021, there were 47,906 total homicides among Black people, 41,438 of which involved firearms. Based on an average from 2018 to 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 2018-2021, Bridged Race” last accessed February 10, 2023, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
18. Id.[↩]
19. Id.[↩]
20. 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 February 10, 2023, www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars.[↩]
21. From 2018 to 2021, there were 2,908 firearm homicides and 3,973 total homicides among Black children ages 0 to 17. In 2021 the firearm homicide rate for Black children ages 0 to 17 was 6.54; the firearm homicide rate for non-Hispanic white children the same age was 0.51. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 2018-2021, Bridged Race” last accessed February 10, 2023, https://wonder.cdc.gov/. See also Annie L. Andrews et al., “Pediatric Firearm Injury Mortality Epidemiology,” Pediatrics 149, no. 3 (2022): e2021052739.[↩]
22. In 2019 the nationwide age-adjusted firearm homicide rate was 4.59 and the age-adjusted firearm homicide rate among Black people was 18.81. In 2021 the nationwide age-adjusted firearm homicide rate was 6.66 and the age-adjusted firearm homicide rate among Black people was 28.14. Id.[↩]
23. The firearm homicide rate among Black boys and men ages 10 to 44 was 60.42 in 2019 and 86.47 in 2021. Id.See also Scott R. Kegler et al., “Vital Signs: Changes in Firearm Homicide and Suicide Rates — United States, 2019-2020,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 71, no. 19 (2022): 656-663.[↩]
24. The age-adjusted firearm homicide rate for Black girls and women was 3.97 in 2019 and 7.05 in 2021. Id.[↩]
25. Shani A.L. Buggs et al., “Heterogeneous effects of spatially proximate firearm homicide exposure on anxiety and depression symptoms among U.S. youth,” Preventive Medicine 165, (2022): 107224.[↩]
26. Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz et al., “Inequities in Community Exposure to Deadly Gun Violence by Race/Ethnicity, Poverty, and Neighborhood Disadvantage among youth in Large US Cities,” Journal of Urban Health 99, (2022): 610–625.[↩]
27. Melissa E. Smith et al., “The impact of exposure to gun violence fatality on mental health outcomes in four urban U.S. settings,” Social Science & Medicine 246, (2020):112587.[↩]
28. Aditi Vasan et al., “Association of Neighborhood Gun Violence WIth Mental Health-Related Pediatric Emergency Department Utilization,” JAMA Pediatrics 175, no. 12 (2021):1244-2151.[↩]
29. Brooklyn Hitchens, “Second Killings: The Black Women and Girls Left Behind to Grieve America’s Growing Gun Violence Crisis,” Rockefeller Institute Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium, July 26, 2022, https://rockinst.org/blog/second-killings-the-black-women-and-girls-left-behind-to-grieve-americas-growing-gun-violence-crisis/.[↩]
30. Id.[↩]
31. From 2001 to 2021, there were 366,640 firearm suicide deaths among non-Hispanic whites and 426,241 total suicide deaths across the country. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), “Underlying Cause of Death, 2018-2021, Bridged Race” last accessed February 10, 2023, https://wonder.cdc.gov/.[↩]
32. In 2018, the age-adjusted firearm suicide rate among non-Hispanic whites was 9.28; the age-adjusted firearm suicide rate among Black people was 3.46. In 2021, the age-adjusted firearm suicide rate among non-Hispanic whites was 9.69; the age-adjusted firearm suicide rate among Blacks was 4.88. Id.[↩]
33. The crude firearm suicide rate for Black youth ages 10 to 24 was 4.13 in 2018 and 6.52 in 2021. Id. See also, Mark S. Kaplan et al., “Changing Trends in Suicide Mortality and Firearm Involvement Among Black Young Adults in the United States, 1999-2019,” Archives of Suicide Research (2022): 1–6.[↩]
34. The crude firearm suicide rate nationally for youth ages 10 to 24 was 5.01 in 2018 and 5.93 in 2021. The crude firearm suicide rate for non-Hispanic white youth ages 10 to 24 was 6.49 in 2018 and 7.15 in 2021. Id.[↩]
35. Id.[↩]
36. Babe Kawaii-Bogue, Norissa J. Williams, and Kameron MacNear, “Mental Health Care Access and Treatment Utilization in African American Communities: An Integrative Care Framework,” Best Practices in Mental Health 13, no. 2 (2017): 11–29.[↩]
37. Sara Novak, “Suicides among Black People May Be Vastly Undercounted,” Scientific American, June 6, 2022, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/suicides-among-black-people-may-be-vastly-undercounted/.[↩]
38. In 2021, there were 47,234,227 Black Americans in the US and a total population of 331,893,745. From 2018 to 2022, there were 5,193 fatal police shootings. During that same time period, there were 1,330 Black victims. Mapping Police Violence, “National Trends,” last accessed August 22, 2022, https://mappingpoliceviolence.squarespace.com/.; US Census Bureau, “S0101 AGE AND SEX,” 2021, US Census Bureau https://data.census.gov/table?y=2021.; US Census Bureau, “S0201 SELECTED POPULATION PROFILE IN THE UNITED STATES,” 2021, https://data.census.gov/table?t=-02&y=2021&tid=ACSSPP1Y2021.S0201.[↩]
39. Based on calculations made by Giffords Law Center. Id.[↩]
40. Gabriel L. Schwartz and Jaquelyn L. Jahn, “Mapping fatal police violence across U.S. metropolitan areas: Overall rates and racial/ethnic inequities, 2013-2017,” PLoS One 15, no. 6 (2020): e0229686.[↩]
41. Cody T. Ross, “A Multi-Level Bayseian Analysis of Racial Bias in Police Shootings at the County-Level in the United States, 2011-2014,” PLoS One 10, no. 11 (2015): e0141854.; Justin Nix et al., “A Bird’s Eye View of Civilians Killed by Police in 2015,” Criminology & Public Policy 16, no. 1 (2017): 309-340.[↩]
42. Justin Nix and John A. Shjarback, “Factors Associated with Police Shooting Mortality: A Focus on Race and a Plea for More Comprehensive Data,” PLoS One 16, no. 11 (2021).[↩]
43. Id.[↩]
44. Michael Siegel, “Racial Disparities in Fatal Police Shootings: An Empirical Analysis Informed by Critical Race Theory,” Boston University Law Review 100 (2020).[↩]
45. Aldina Mesic et al., “The Relationship between Structural Racism and Black-white Disparities in Fatal Police Shootings at the State Level,” Journal of the National Medical Association 110, no. 2 (2018): 106–116.[↩]
46. Jacob Bor et al., “Police Killings and Their Spillover Effects on the Mental Health of Black Americans: a Population-based, Quasi-experimental Study,” The Lancet 392, no. 10144 (2018): 302–310.[↩]
47. Id.[↩]
48. David S. Kirk and Andrew V. Papachristos, “Cultural Mechanisms and the Persistence of Neighborhood Violence,” American Journal of Sociology 116, no. 4 (2011): 1190–1233; Matthew Desmond, Andrew V. Papachristos, and David S. Kirk, “Police Violence and Citizen Crime Reporting in the Black Community,” American Sociological Review 81, no. 5 (2016): 857–876.[↩]
49. Id.[↩]
50. Zachary R. Dunton et al., “The Association Between Repealing the 48-hour Mandatory Waiting Period on Handgun Purchases and Suicide Rates in Wisconsin,” Archives of Suicide Research 26, no. 3 (2022): 1327–1335.[↩]
51. Michael Siegel, “The Impact of State-Level Firearms Laws on Homicide Rates by Race/Ethnicity,” National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Office of Justice Programs, April 2020, https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/254669.pdf.[↩]
52. Id.[↩]
53. Cassandra K. Crifasi et al., “Public Opinion on Gun Policy by Race and Gun Ownership Status,” Preventive Medicine 149 (2021).[↩]