America’s gun violence problem is evident nationwide, but a new study reveals that how different groups of people across the country experience such violence can vary dramatically, depending upon who they are and where they live.
The research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday, measures drastic differences in how black and white men experience fatal gun violence in the United States.
Between 2008 and 2016, black men were more likely to die by guns in homicides, whereas white men were more likely to die by guns in suicides, and for both groups, the rates of those types of death varied widely by state, according to the study.
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“The important thing here is that we were able to estimate these differences between black and white men, and that helps us understand health inequalities,” said Corinne Riddell, a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University in Canada who was lead author of the study.
“I would hope that the findings bring awareness to how different the risks of firearm homicide and suicide are to black and white men, and I hope that the public will question the status quo and challenge some of the rhetoric around homicide and suicide deaths,” she said. “These deaths are preventable, and this is evidenced by the different rates of homicide and suicide across states.”
Biggest surprise: State differences
The study involved death-certificate data on homicides and suicides among non-Hispanic black and white men across the United States between 2008 and 2016. The data came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database.
The researchers computed the average annual death rate among the men according to race, intent (such as homicide or suicide) and firearm involvement. They also calculated any inequalities in those age-adjusted rates between the two groups. In total, their analysis included 84,113 homicides and 251,772 suicides.
Compared with white men, the researchers found that black men experienced 27 more firearm homicides per 100,000 people annually nationwide (29.12 for black men vs. 2.1 for white men). The states with the highest rates of firearm homicide among black men in the data – namely Missouri, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana – also had the largest disparities between blacks and whites, the researchers found.
Firearm homicide death rates, by race
Annual firearm homicide deaths among men per 100,000 per year, by race and state.
StateWhiteBlackDiff.
Missouri2.7759.4256.65
Michigan1.5249.1447.62
Illinois1.0547.9446.89
Indiana2.0946.0643.97
Pennsylvania1.4743.3241.85
Nebraska1.3940.6839.29
Louisiana4.0642.9138.85
Ohio1.8337.1535.32
Wisconsin0.9233.5332.61
New Jersey0.6531.6931.04
Oklahoma4.3034.6730.37
California2.0532.2730.22
Tennessee3.2933.4230.13
Maryland1.3631.0729.71
Arkansas4.3933.3929.00
Delaware1.7430.3228.58
Alabama4.4733.0028.53
United States2.1029.1227.02
Kansas2.0827.0124.93
Florida3.1126.5323.42
Mississippi4.7928.1123.32
Kentucky3.4626.2022.74
South Carolina3.7624.3520.59
Connecticut0.8621.4420.58
Nevada3.2223.0319.81
West Virginia3.9122.3118.40
North Carolina2.8921.2018.31
Georgia2.7620.4617.70
New York0.8018.4317.63
Virginia1.7618.6516.89
Arizona3.6320.4016.77
Massachusetts0.6316.8416.21
Texas3.4218.4515.03
Colorado1.7516.5614.81
Minnesota0.7515.2814.53
New Mexico4.2618.4414.18
Iowa0.9913.7312.74
Oregon1.7013.4811.78
Washington1.7112.1310.42
Alaska3.2412.309.06
Rhode Island0.779.518.74
From a 2018 CNN article:
America’s gun violence problem is evident nationwide, but a new study reveals that how different groups of people across the country experience such violence can vary dramatically, depending upon who they are and where they live.
The research, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday, measures drastic differences in how black and white men experience fatal gun violence in the United States.
Between 2008 and 2016, black men were more likely to die by guns in homicides, whereas white men were more likely to die by guns in suicides, and for both groups, the rates of those types of death varied widely by state, according to the study.
RELATED ARTICLE How US gun culture compares with the world in five charts “The important thing here is that we were able to estimate these differences between black and white men, and that helps us understand health inequalities,” said Corinne Riddell, a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University in Canada who was lead author of the study.
“I would hope that the findings bring awareness to how different the risks of firearm homicide and suicide are to black and white men, and I hope that the public will question the status quo and challenge some of the rhetoric around homicide and suicide deaths,” she said. “These deaths are preventable, and this is evidenced by the different rates of homicide and suicide across states.”
Biggest surprise: State differences The study involved death-certificate data on homicides and suicides among non-Hispanic black and white men across the United States between 2008 and 2016. The data came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research database.
The researchers computed the average annual death rate among the men according to race, intent (such as homicide or suicide) and firearm involvement. They also calculated any inequalities in those age-adjusted rates between the two groups. In total, their analysis included 84,113 homicides and 251,772 suicides.
Compared with white men, the researchers found that black men experienced 27 more firearm homicides per 100,000 people annually nationwide (29.12 for black men vs. 2.1 for white men). The states with the highest rates of firearm homicide among black men in the data – namely Missouri, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana – also had the largest disparities between blacks and whites, the researchers found.
Firearm homicide death rates, by race Annual firearm homicide deaths among men per 100,000 per year, by race and state. StateWhiteBlackDiff. Missouri2.7759.4256.65 Michigan1.5249.1447.62 Illinois1.0547.9446.89 Indiana2.0946.0643.97 Pennsylvania1.4743.3241.85 Nebraska1.3940.6839.29 Louisiana4.0642.9138.85 Ohio1.8337.1535.32 Wisconsin0.9233.5332.61 New Jersey0.6531.6931.04 Oklahoma4.3034.6730.37 California2.0532.2730.22 Tennessee3.2933.4230.13 Maryland1.3631.0729.71 Arkansas4.3933.3929.00 Delaware1.7430.3228.58 Alabama4.4733.0028.53 United States2.1029.1227.02 Kansas2.0827.0124.93 Florida3.1126.5323.42 Mississippi4.7928.1123.32 Kentucky3.4626.2022.74 South Carolina3.7624.3520.59 Connecticut0.8621.4420.58 Nevada3.2223.0319.81 West Virginia3.9122.3118.40 North Carolina2.8921.2018.31 Georgia2.7620.4617.70 New York0.8018.4317.63 Virginia1.7618.6516.89 Arizona3.6320.4016.77 Massachusetts0.6316.8416.21 Texas3.4218.4515.03 Colorado1.7516.5614.81 Minnesota0.7515.2814.53 New Mexico4.2618.4414.18 Iowa0.9913.7312.74 Oregon1.7013.4811.78 Washington1.7112.1310.42 Alaska3.2412.309.06 Rhode Island0.779.518.74