Gun Violence in Hispanic & Latino Communities

In 2022, in the town of Uvalde, Texas—where four in five residents are Latino¹—38 people were shot at Robb Elementary School.² Nineteen children and two teachers died in the shooting.³ In 2019, a shooter killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, claiming that he intended to target Mexicans.⁴ 

Nearly one in every five people living in the US are Hispanic or Latino, making this community the second largest racial/ethnic group in the country.⁸ Hispanic and Latino communities include people from various countries of origins and ethnic backgrounds including two dozen countries from Central and South America.⁹  

This memo relies on mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which categorizes race and ethnicity separately. The CDC data is the more complete source of information on firearm mortality and utilizes the label “Hispanic or Latino” as an ethnicity category in their dataset. The terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” are often used interchangeably to describe this group, though these terms technically have different meanings. Latino refers to people of Latin American origin, while Hispanic refers to people of Spanish-speaking countries.¹⁰ This report uses “Latino” referring to the CDC data or to Hispanic and Latino communities more broadly.

While the CDC’s data classifications are in line with other federal data collection protocols, including that of the US Census, the broad categorization of Hispanic and Latino may mask important differences among subgroups of this population. For example, this data does not provide breakdowns by specific Hispanic and Latino ethnic groups who may face different risks for gun violence.¹¹

Gun violence kills nearly 5,500 Latinos in the US every year.¹² The Latino community, particularly Latino youth, has been disproportionately impacted by gun violence. Gun deaths among Hispanic people have increased at nearly three times the rate of gun deaths nationally. From 2015 to 2024, the number of Latino gun deaths rose 61%; comparatively, national gun deaths rose 22%.¹³  

Firearm homicides account for almost 60% of all Latino gun deaths.¹⁴ Firearm homicide deaths take a disproportionate toll on Latino Americans compared to many other racial and ethnic groups. In fact, the Latino firearm homicide rate is more than double the non-Hispanic white firearm homicide rate.¹⁵  

Furthermore, nearly three-quarters of Hispanics and Latinos live in only nine states, leading to a disparate geographic concentration of Hispanic gun deaths.¹⁶ For example, in New Mexico, 65% of gun homicide victims are Hispanic, despite this group comprising just half of the state’s population.¹⁷ Comparatively, non-Hispanic white residents of New Mexico make up only 36% of the population and only 18% of gun homicides.³ Similarly in California, half of all gun homicide victims are Latino, despite this group only accounting for 40% of the state’s population.³ Contrastingly, non-Hispanic white residents make up a similar percentage of the population (35%) but a smaller proportion of gun homicide victims (13%).³ 

Young Latino men experience some of the highest rates of gun violence. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for Hispanic male youth ages 15 to 19 and the third leading cause of death for Hispanic male adults ages 20 to 44.¹⁸ Unfortunately, the Latino and Hispanic communities have disproportionately borne the impact of our country’s gun violence epidemic for decades. In fact, gun homicides have been the second leading cause of death for Hispanic males ages 15 to 34 for over 20 years.¹⁹ 

Currently, the firearm homicide rate for Latino male youth ages 15 to 19 is nearly five times higher than the non-Hispanic white youth of the same age.²⁰ Exposure to high rates of gun violence is associated with a host of negative mental health outcomes, including psychological distress, depression, and suicidal ideation in Black and Latino youth.²¹ 

More than 2,000 Latinos die by gun suicide each year.²² While the Latino gun suicide rate is lower than the national gun suicide rate, gun suicide rates in the Latino community are growing faster than national averages. From 2020 to 2024, gun suicide rates rose nearly 18% in the Latino community compared to a 9% increase nationwide.²³

In recent years, there has a troubling increase in suicide among Latina women. From 2020 to 2024, the Latina gun suicide rate rose 27%.²⁴ These increases have disproportionately impacted younger Latinas. Between 2020 and 2024, the Latina firearm suicide rate for those between the ages of 15 and 24 rose nearly 31% while the firearm suicide rate for Latino men of the same ages remained essentially unchanged.²⁵ The overall national female gun suicide rate for those 15 to 24 years old rose only 7% during the same period.²⁶

The Latino community also experiences disproportionately high rates of fatal police shootings.²⁷ On average, law enforcement shoots and kills more than 200 Latinos each year.²⁸ Just as with firearm homicides, Hispanic people die from fatal police shootings at rates 1.3 times more than non-Hispanic whites.²⁹ In fact, in New Mexico, where about half of all residents are Latino, police shoot and kill Latinos at a rate nearly double that of their non-Hispanic white counterparts.³⁰ Similarly, in California, which also has a high Latino population, Latinos die from fatal police shootings at 1.65 times the rate of non-Hispanic whites in the state.³¹ Tragically, police violence within the Hispanic and Latino community has been rising—from 2011 to 2020, fatal encounters with law enforcement grew 44%.³²

Hispanic and Latino communities disproportionately suffer the consequences of our nation’s gun violence epidemic every day. But collectively, this group is raising its voice and demanding action. Latino voters list gun violence among their most important voting issues,³³ and 68% of Hispanic adults support stronger gun laws that would help keep their communities safe.³⁴  

Fortunately, there are a number of policy solutions that would protect Latinos from gun violence, including universal background checks, extreme risk laws, and funding for community violence intervention strategies. These communities are in the throes of our nation’s gun violence crisis, and we can’t wait any longer to implement these lifesaving solutions.