The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a study this week which showed a higher firearm homicide rate in 2020 relative to 2019, and pointed to poverty as a factor in the increase.
The CDC study showed that “the firearm homicide rate in 2020 was the highest recorded since 1994.” But it also showed that the increase in the firearm homicide rates varied across demographics.
For example, among males the “largest increases in firearm homicide rates were among Black males aged 10–24 (from 54.9 per 100,000 people in 2019 to 77.3 in 2020) and 25–44 years (66.5 to 90.6).”
Among females “the highest rates and largest increases were among those who were Black, aged 10–24 (6.4 to 9.1) and 25–44 years (6.9 to 10.2).”
The CDC suggested a relationship between poverty and the rising firearm homicide rate, observing, “Rates of firearm homicide were lowest and increased least at the lowest poverty level and were higher and showed larger increases at higher poverty levels.”
They also pointed out that “youth firearm homicide and suicide rates have been associated with poverty at the county level, and the percentage of youths living in conditions of household poverty is higher among racial and ethnic minority populations.”
CNBC also noted the study’s focus on poverty:
Killings and suicides with guns were closely associated with poverty, according to the study. The counties in the U.S. with the highest poverty rates suffered firearm killing and suicide rates that were 4.5 and 1.3 times higher, respectively, than counties with the lowest poverty levels. Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans were more likely to live in counties with higher poverty rates, according to the CDC.
The firearm homicide rate rose nearly 40 percent among black Americans in 2020. It “rose 27 percent to 8.1 per 100,000 people among Native Americans, nearly 26 percent among Hispanics to 4.5 per 100,000, and about 28 percent among whites to 2.2 per 100,000.”
The 2020 rates among Asian Americans actually decreased by 4.2 percent “to 1 per 100,000 individuals.”
On May 10 Breitbart News reported CDC official Debra Houry’s suggestion that planting trees and grass can reduce gun violence.
WXOW quoted Houry describing her tree-planting approach as a “greening initiative.” She said, “We’ve also funded research around greening initiatives to where you can go in and make a vacant lot look better by planting grass and trees. That’s been shown to reduce firearm assaults by up to 29% in impoverished areas.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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