The media is big on talking about America’s gun violence problem, but not on talking about who is doing most of the killing.
That has major implications for what kind of gun control is likely to reduce homicides: if America’s gun violence problem is largely the fault of law-abiding young white males, then it makes sense to push more point-of-sale gun control against the law-abiding, since they are likely to obey new laws.
But if America’s gun violence problem is largely the fault of black criminals, then it’s hard to see that more point-of-sale gun control laws would be terribly effective. Instead, we need exactly what we have had less of since George Floyd’s death: point-of-use gun control.
Looking at the CDC WONDER database of causes of death, you can look up how many young males died in gun homicides in 2020-2021. This isn’t a count of perpetrators but then again the difference between victims and perps is likely to be the least misleading among 15-34- year-old males.
First, each race’s share of the 15-34-year-old population:
And now victims of homicides among 15-34-year-old males:
Among young men who die by homicide, 68.5% are black.
In the 2020s, the black gun homicide death rate among young men is 23 times the white rate. The Hispanic rate is 3.6 times the white rate.
