Guns Are Killing Young Black People in Rural America, Too

by Jennifer Porter Gore In the past 9 years, the rate of Black gunshot victims in places like Alabama and Mississippi was six times higher than in cities like New York or Los Angeles. When the subject of gun violence in Black communities comes up, what usually comes to mind are images of big-city streets and apartment housing  — not rural communities.  But several studies show that the sharp rise in Black victims of gun-related deaths in recent decades is happening in rural areas and small towns, mostly in the Deep South. Since 2018, the data show, Black youth in rural areas have been dying from firearms as often as their urban peers. Of the 20 towns and cities with the highest rates of shootings, more than half were in the South, home to a majority of Black Americans. Between 2013 and 2024, studies show, the rate of gunshot victims in places like Alabama and Mississippi was six times higher than in cities like New York or Los Angeles. David Hemenway, professor of health policy at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, ties the violence directly to the nation’s embrace of guns and legislation protecting gun manufacturers.& “At...