Racial Gap in Young Gun Violence Deaths Widening, Study Finds

Gun deaths of young people as old as 19 rose from 3.6 per 100,000 population in 2001 to 4.2 per 100,000 in 2019, found a new study of Centers for Disease Control data, The Trace reports. As the overall rates increased, the racial gap in victims of gun violence widened, accounting for an extra 0.55 deaths for Black young people over their white peers per year beginning in 2014.

By 2019, Black youth had a gun mortality rate 4.3 times higher than white youth and a gun homicide rate more than 14 times higher. “There is no biologic plausibility for these disparities but rather they are a reflection of racist systems and policies that perpetuate inequities in violent injuries and death,” the authors wrote. They said, "This public health crisis demands physician advocacy to reduce these preventable deaths among youth." The study was published by Annie L. Andrews, Xzavier Killings, Elizabeth Oddo, Kelsey A.B. Gastineau and Ashley B. Hink in the journal Pediatrics.