What does gun violence in the U.S. look like?

Firearm violence is an issue that requires wide-sweeping, intentional approaches to fully combat, bringing in experts and organizations across education, public policy, social work, criminology, technology, and more. In order to effectively begin to address gun violence, we must understand where and how it occurs in our communities. 

Gun violence is higher in cities

After suicides, urban violence is the second biggest category of gun violence, making up a majority of gun homicides.

Urban violence is often perpetuated by cycles of violence, where retaliatory shootings and a refusal of eyewitnesses to cooperate turn one shooting into many. Communities’ distrust of government and law enforcement dissuades them from reporting the gun crime or calling 911 when they hear gunfire.

Criminologists report that a very small minority of a city’s population typically perpetrates most of the firearm violence. City-level studies in Oakland, for instance, revealed that 0.1 percent of the population was responsible for the majority of homicides, while in New Orleans, 600-700 people were linked to most of the city’s homicides.

Indeed, the recent data confirms that the gun violence driving much of this current surge is concentrated among a limited number of communities where retaliatory shootings are common.

Gun violence disproportionately affects young people and minority populations

The demographic trends of who is affected by gun violence are clear and consistent, with the majority of homicide deaths from firearms occurring in young males. Across all racial identities, males between 15-35 years old make up the largest share of gun violence victims killed; deaths spike from age 20-22. 

However, the racial makeup of victims is far from equal. Black men make up 52 percent of all gun homicide victims in the U.S., despite comprising less than 7% of the population — firearm violence is the leading cause of death for young Black men. It is the second-leading cause of death for young Hispanic men.

The same neighborhoods that struggle with chronic community gun violence also face social and economic challenges — a lack of access to healthy food, shortage of affordable housing, high unemployment rates and more. 

Police need to know when and where gun violence occurs

The first step to beginning to cure the problem is to identify it. Some studies suggest that as many as 8 in 10 gunshots are not reported, leading to those retaliatory cycles of violence mentioned earlier. Police need to know when a gun is fired and obtain the evidence they need to find the perpetrator. 

Earlier this year, Flock Safety set a goal to reduce crime in the U.S. by 25% in the next three years – and we know that gun crime is a huge part of that equation. That’s why we’re so excited to reveal our newest device in your city’s public safety operating system.