Gun violence has become one of the main concerns of Hispanic and Latino voters in the United States for the 2024 elections. Several data, such as those pointed out by the Center for AmericanProgress, demonstrate that the population in question suffers attacks disproportionately to other ethnic groups, either due to higher rates of targeted shootings, such as the cases in El Paso in 2019 and Uvalde in 2022, or because they are twice as likely to die from guns in certain states when compared to the white population.

Precisely because of this reality affected by brutality, many individuals support gun control, such as the 68% of Hispanic adults who support tightening gun laws to protect their communities. Despite this, amidst this discussion, one need stands out: even though a large part of the population wants such toughening, many Latinos feel compelled to acquire weapons for self-defense purposes.

It is from this problem that activist Philip Gomez founded the Latin RifleAssociation, a non-profit organization that aims to defend gun rights from a Latino perspective and, at the same time, raise the needs of a niche so affected by these damages. From this perspective, it is reasonable to consider that in the next elections candidates will have to face these demands from Latino voters, especially among the youngest, who understand gun violence as an urgent issue.

Cases of brutality against Latinos in the US: El Paso in 2019 and Uvalde in 2022

Mass shootings against Latinos in the United States are a warning sign of racially motivated violence, especially when the victims are targeted with weapons. Two of the most notable incidents involving deliberate attacks against this community are the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, and the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022.

In the first case, which occurred on August 3, 2019, Patrick Crusius opened fire at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, killing 23 people and injuring several others. According to CNN, the attack was motivated by a white supremacist ideology, with the shooter confessing that the goal was to kill Mexicans.

Before the attack, Crusius had published an online manifesto, in which he expressed xenophobic rhetoric, associating Latino immigration with a cultural and racial "invasion" of the United States. The El Paso attack was one of the deadliest specifically targeting Latinos in modern US history, leaving a lasting psychological scar on the local community and the families of the victims. The second episode of violence that affected the Latino community was the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022. Here, the majority of the victims were Latino children, targeted by Salvador Ramos, 18, who entered the school armed and killed 19 children and 2 teachers. This case became the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.

 Gun violence against Latinos explained numerically and by the geography of the United States

The aforementioned massacres against Latinos only represent a fraction of the types of incidents that the public faces. However, what becomes notable in the analysis of gun use is the geography in which both situations occurred: in the state of Texas.

This is no coincidence based on the analysis by the Center for American Progress, since it is possible to perceive a worsening of the rates of homicide by firearm depending on the North American state analyzed — the internal laws of each place in the territory differ from each other and, inevitably, have an impact on this malaise to a greater or lesser degree. Thus, places like Arizona, Texas and Florida exemplify how there is a correlation between weak gun control laws and the increase in homicide rates. As a prime example, Texas, where Latinos make up more than 40% of the population, is a state where they are twice as likely to die from gun violence  compared to white people. Furthermore, the recurrence of massacres targeting this population is a strong indication that local laws are not strong enough to prevent attacks, leaving many people at the mercy of atrocities. Furthermore, a Latino living in the state is almost three times more likely to die from a firearm than someone living in New York and more than twice as likely as a resident of New Jersey. Among young people, the numbers are even more alarming: from 2019 to 2020, the gun homicide rate among Hispanic youth in Texas increased by 37.5%. Arizona, as a second example, has the highest rate of gun homicides among Hispanic youth, with a number three times higher compared to that of non-Hispanic white youth. They are also four times more likely to die from a gun attack than Hispanic residents of New York City and nearly twice as likely as Hispanics in California.

Finally, young Hispanics in Florida saw gun homicide rates among individuals 24 and younger increase by 42.3% from 2019 to 2020, making them twice as likely to die from gun homicide than whites in the same age group.

With this in mind, analysis by the Center for American Progress suggests that Florida’s gun laws disproportionately affect minority communities, such as black and Latino communities. This is especially true given that, five years after the state passed the Stand Your Ground law, which allows armed defense without the need for recoil, the rate of gun homicides among Hispanic men increased by 27.9%.

Thus, thinking more broadly, this demonstrates that policy decisions and failures, rather than protecting these populations, put them at risk and facilitate the worsening of their rates.

The psychosocial impacts on Latinos and the need for change

From the above, it becomes clear that the mortality of Latinos affected by gun violence, being the most significant among ethnic groups, cannot be ignored. The high numbers of violence against Latinos justify the widespread feeling of insecurity, even the acquisition of weapons for self-defense or the creation of organizations, such as the Latin Rifle Association, in order to defend Latino interests regarding gun ownership.

In the face of brutality, 71% of Latino voters report fearing for their "personalsafety in mass shootings in public places", while another 53% of voters feel "very concerned" about gun violence in their communities. Therefore, the least this group expects is improvements.

The Giffords Law Center has outlined several policies that can protect Latinos from gun violence, including universal background checks, extreme risk laws, and financial support for community-based violence intervention strategies. These communities are at the center of the gun violence crisis, and these life-saving solutions are urgently needed.

While Hispanics are demanding action to pass gun violence prevention measures and expressing concern for the safety of their communities, elected officials are failing to listen; many have passed policies that put Hispanic communities at even greater risk of gun violence. Solutions exist, and Hispanic communities have been vocal about how much they value public safety. It’s time for policymakers to act.

and changes that can protect their communities from this epidemic of violence.