Hispanic Victims of Lethal Firearms Violence in the United States

For the first time, Hispanics became the largest minority group in the nation, exceeding the number of Black residents.2 With a population in 2020 of 62.1 million, Hispanics represent 18.7 percent of the total population of the United States.3 This study is intended to report on Hispanic homicide victimization and suicide in the United States, the role of firearms in homicide and suicide, and over. [...] In 2020, information on the Hispanic ethnicity of homicide victims was available for only 44 of the 50 states (as recently as 2015 the number of states reporting Hispanic ethnicity to the SHR was only 24). [...] HISPANIC VICTIMS OF LETHAL FIREARMS VIOLENCE IN THE UNITED STATES VIOLENCE POLICY CENTER | 5 HOMICIDE In 2021, there were 4,453 Hispanic victims of homicide by all means in the United States. [...] Historically, Blacks and Hispanics in the United States have relatively low rates of gun ownership.12 Yet, the majority of both Blacks and Hispanics, like most Americans, falsely believe “that a gun in the home is much more likely to be used to protect, rather than harm, members of the household.” One survey found that 75 percent of Blacks and 73 percent of Hispanics felt that it was more likely t. [...] This combination — low gun ownership coupled with a mistaken belief in the efficacy of the self-defense handgun — is the sweet spot for the gun industry and its financial partners in the National Rifle Association (NRA).