Blacks 12 Times More Likely To Be Killed By Guns

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show African Americans in Minnesota are 12 times more likely to be killed by firearms than whites.

The data also show white people in Minnesota are more likely than blacks to use guns to kill themselves.

Minnesota Public Radio News analyzed CDC data on gun homicides and suicides between 2008 and 2010.  those years, 73 black Minnesotans died from gun-related homicides, at an age-adjusted rate of 7.3 per 100,000, compared with 78 white Minnesotans, a rate of 0.6 per 100,000.

About 800 white residents killed themselves with guns, compared with 17 black Minnesotans.

The data show most black gun-homicide victims are boys or men in urban areas; most white gun-suicide victims are men in rural counties.