We're Number One

Pennsylvania leads the way with this ignominious "honor" of having the highest black homicide rate in the country, with a per capita murder rate of more than six times the national average, as reported in Violence Policy Center. The report notes:

Pennsylvania leads the nation in the rate of black homicide victimization according to a new analysis of unpublished Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC). The study, Black Homicide Victimization in the United States: An Analysis of 2004 Homicide Data, uses 2004 data—the most recent data available from the FBI—and is the first analysis to rank the 50 states according to their black homicide rates. The study found overwhelmingly that firearms, usually handguns, were the weapon of choice in the homicides.

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The study warns that "the toll that homicide exacts on black teens and young adults in America, both male and female, is disproportionate, disturbing, and undeniable" and concludes, "As efforts are made to reduce America's black homicide victimization toll, the unique facilitating role of firearms cannot be ignored."

Of course, for those of us living in Philly, this does not come as a big surprise. The Inquirer has had a special series on Violence, focusing on the increasing number of homicides and shootings in Philadelphia and other areas in the state. The November 2006 issue of Philadelphia Magazine featured an article on gun violence in the city, see The Dead of Night. And Pennsylvania has earned a D+ from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, see Philadelphia Weekly.

This also corresponds to a recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health, States With Higher Levels of Gun Ownership Have Higher Homicide Rates, concluding:

Firearms are used to kill two out of every three homicide victims in America.. In the first nationally representative study to examine the relationship between survey measures of household firearm ownership and state level rates of homicide, researchers at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center found that homicide rates among children, and among women and men of all ages, are higher in states where more households have guns.

To quote Eric D. Snider: Guns Don't Kill People ... Oh, Wait, Yes They Do .

Tags: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Philly, News