Teen Homicide and Suicide by Demographics: Do Blacks and Whites Differ in Gun Use?

While giving a presentation at AIR this evening (thanks to Larry Condelli, Dahlia Shaewitz, and Stephanie Cronen!), a good question came up about race/ethnicity and use of guns. I provide some data below (note: Hispanic was not a sub-category option). The summary is that while Blacks show greater gun use in homicide deaths, Whites demonstrate a higher use in suicide. SES was not an available option; I will look into other data sets.

The FBI’s supplementary homicide reports[i] tell us a little about the perpetrators and victims of teen homicide. The majority of homicides are within race: more than 80 percent of whites were killed by other whites, and 92 percent of blacks were killed by other blacks (see table). 

	Perpetrator same race	Perpetrator same race	Perpetrator different race	Perpetrator different race	Totals
Victim Race	#	%	#	%	#
White	1,654	84%	322	16%	1,976
Black	2,093	92%	177	8%	2,270
Amer. Indian/ Alaskan Native	17	52%	16	48%	33
Asian/Native Hawaiian/PI	53	60%	36	40%	89
Total	3,817	87%	551	13%	4,368

Here's an analysis by weapon (data 2002-2011, same data source, victims 12-17 yrs old). It's clear that Black victims are disproportionately affected by gun-related homicide.

Homicide weapon	Victim White	Victim Black
Firearm	72%	86%
Knife	12%	8%
Blunt object	3%	1%
Personal	4%	2%
Other/unknown	10%	4%
Total	100%	100%

However, when it comes to suicide, the trend reverses (this is true only in youth; data for 2011 from CDC WISQARS, ages 0-19). Of those who committed suicide, 68% of whites used a firearm and only 52% of Blacks did so. 

	Non-firearm	Firearm	Total
White	943	648	69%
Black	129	67	52%
Am Indian/ AK Native	62	22	35%
Asian/Pac Islander	50	12	24%
Total	1,184	749	63%

Great to see everyone tonight! Thanks for the warm welcome back and the good questions!

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[i] C. Puzzanchera, G. Chamberlin, and W. Kang, “Easy Access to the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports: 1980–2010” (2012), http://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezashr/. Data were for 1999–2007 to keep consistent with the CDC data presented.