By Rose Kim, Elizabeth Wagner, Nandita Somayaji, Silvia Villarreal, Cassandra Crifasi


44,447 people died from gun violence in the United States in 2024. Each day, an average of 121 people died from gun violence—one death every 12 minutes. Gun suicides reached an all-time high in the total number of
deaths for the fourth consecutive year. For the past five years, guns remained the leading cause of death among young people (ages 1–17), with more deaths than any other single cause, including car crashes, overdoses, and cancers. While males have higher gun death rates and are at elevated risk for gun violence overall, females are uniquely impacted by the intersection between gun violence and domestic violence—nearly half of all females who are murdered are killed by a current or former intimate partner, and more than half of these intimate partner homicides are by gun. In this year’s report, we examined the overall rise of female gun deaths and their disproportionate impact across certain races and ethnicities from 2015 to 2024.

While the burden of gun violence in the U.S. remains high, there are evidence-based, equitable solutions to save lives. These solutions are supported by most people, including gun owners. Despite this broad support, policymakers hesitate to heed the evidence and enact policies that will save lives. Each year, it is our mission to provide policymakers and the public accurate and up-to-date data on gun fatalities and illustrate the
enormous toll gun violence has on our country. This report is an update to “Gun Violence in the United States 2023: Examining the Gun Suicide Epidemic.” It uses firearm mortality data listed on death certificates that are provided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and made available through the CDC
WONDER Underlying Cause of Death database. The substantial lag in data availability makes it challenging to understand the burden of gun violence in real time; however, understanding the magnitude of this issue, even with the time lag, is essential to inform public health interventions to reduce violence.We recognize that each data point discussed in this report is a person who died by gun violence. This loss has an immeasurable
impact on families, friends, and communities; data can only partly illuminate the true burden of gun violence. In addition to analyzing the data, we must listen to and uplift the voices of those directly impacted by gun violence, their loved ones, and their communities

By Alex Knorre , John MacDonald 

 Background: Firearm homicide is a leading cause of death in the United States, with substantial racial disparities documented over time. Black Americans experience disproportionately higher rates of firearm homicide compared to White Americans, reflecting long-standing social, economic, and structural inequities. This study contributes to understanding the magnitude and trends of this disparity. Objective: We investigate the Black-White population-level disparity in firearm homicide rates over 45 years in the United States and estimate the fraction of excess deaths in the Black population attributable to firearm homicides. Methods: We measure racial disparities in firearm homicides as the ratio of ageadjusted rates between Black and White populations. Using annual national firearm homicide and population data from CDC WONDER (1979–2023), disaggregated by race, age, and sex, we calculate age-adjusted Black–White mortality ratios by year and sex, as well as the number of excess Black firearm homicide deaths attributable to these disparities. Results: After a steady period of 1990-2010, the Black-White disparity began increasing and peaked in 2020 when the firearm homicide rate in males was 10.38 times higher in Blacks than Whites. There were 31,202 excess firearm homicides of Black people attributed to the Black-White racial disparity in 2021-2023. Conclusions: Despite significant declines in firearm homicides during the 1990s, the relative racial gap in firearm homicide has persisted and grown, reflecting the unequal burden of violence borne by the Black population during both declines and surges of violence.

By Roland Neil, Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, Beau Kilmer, Michael W. Robbins, Kristin Warren

Objectives

Racial disparities in arrests are a major concern, particularly when it comes to drug enforcement. In 2021, Oregon decriminalized the possession of controlled substances as part of Measure 110 (M-110), an unprecedented policy change in the United States. We estimate how M-110 affected five types of arrests, overall and by race.

Methods

National Incident-Based Reporting System data covering 3,642 police agencies from 43 states for 2018-2023 are combined with 2020 Census data. We extend a synthetic control methodology developed for micro-level data to test whether policy effects differ across groups and whether policies affect disparities, using permutation inference to quantify uncertainty.

Results

M-110 reduced drug possession arrest rates in Oregon for the overall population (67.8%) and for the three racial groups we focus on: Black (75.6%), Hispanic (77.5%); and White (66.2%), with the reduction being statistically significantly larger for Hispanic and Black than White individuals. M-110 reduced disorder arrest rates by 30.9% for Black individuals, which is statistically significantly different from zero and the White estimate. Black-White rate differences in drug possession arrests fell by 79.5% and in disorder arrests by 41.7%. In general, M-110 did not affect arrest rates for violent, property, or drug trafficking offenses.

Conclusions

M-110 reduced drug possession arrests while reducing Black-White rate differences. M-110 led to a decrease in disorder arrests for Black individuals, suggesting police did not substitute one arrest type for another for this population. Our method offers a new approach for examining heterogeneous policy effects and how policies affect disparities.