Roughly 60 percent of all Black Americans are exposed to some form of gun violence, and such exposures predict elevated rates of disability, according to Rutgers Health research. Survey data from 3,015 Black Americans linked specific disabilities ranging from trouble concentrating to difficulty dressing or bathing with exposure to various types of gun violence: being shot, being threatened with a firearm, knowing a shooting victim, and witnessing a shooting or hearing of one nearby.
“Traditionally, the majority of efforts related to gun violence have focused on reducing homicides, but this study indicates that we need to provide more support to those who face such exposures to violence beyond homicide,” said Daniel Semenza, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health’s Gun Violence Research Center and lead author of the study.
More than 40 percent of survey-takers knew a shooting victim, while 12 percent of them reported at least three exposure types, according to the study published in the Journal of Urban Health. Men reported higher exposure to direct threats than women – 30 percent versus 15 percent – and being shot, 4 percent versus 2 percent.
“These numbers are striking because this was a nationally representative sample, matched to all Black Americans as a whole by age, sex, income, education and area of residence,” said Semenza, whose co-authors included Nazsa Baker, a postdoctoral fellow at Rutgers’ New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. To read the full story.