Abstract:
The study found that of the 47,446 Hispanics killed with guns from 1999 through 2013, approximately two thirds of the gun deaths were homicides (31,800, or 67 percent), while 13,317 were suicides (28 percent). An additional 896 gun deaths were unintentional (two percent), and 1,433 died in other circumstances, including legal intervention and undetermined intent. The study finds that the overall homicide victimization rate for Hispanics is nearly double the homicide victimization rate for whites. More than two thirds of Hispanic homicide victims die by gunfire. The study also recommends that government agencies improve the way they collect and report data on Hispanic victims of gun violence and other lethal violence. Because of major limitations in the way public agencies collect information on Hispanic ethnicity, the total number of Hispanic victims of lethal violence is almost certainly even higher than what the study reports. Homicide is the second leading cause of death for Hispanics ages 15 to 24. For whites in that age group, homicide is the fourth-leading cause of death, and for blacks it is the leading cause of death. In 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, 2,951 Hispanics were killed with guns. Hispanic Victims of Lethal Firearms Violence in the United States is the second edition of the VPC’s annual comprehensive study on lethal gun violence against Hispanics in America. It is based on data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as unpublished information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report [Information on the Hispanic ethnicity of homicide victims was reported only for the following states: Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington; no SHR data was collected for Florida or Alabama]. The study is available in both English and Spanish. (Violence Policy Center Press Release)