More than 5,700 Hispanics Killed by Guns in the United States in 2023, VPC Study Reveals

July 01, 2025 at 08:00 AM EDT

--News Direct--

More than 5,700 Hispanics died by gunfire in the United States in 2023 according to the latest edition of Hispanic Victims of Lethal Firearms Violence in the United States, an annual study from the Violence Policy Center (VPC), a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. That year (the most recent for which national data is available) guns claimed 5,747 Hispanic lives. Of these, 3,284 (57 percent) were gun homicides. An additional 2,198 Hispanic lives were lost in gun suicides that year.

Over the 22-year period from 2002 to 2023, more than 83,000 Hispanics were killed with guns in the United States: 51,780 in gun homicides; 27,160 in gun suicides; 1,220 from unintentional gun deaths; and 2,847 from other firearm deaths.

The study also details how America’s firearms industry and gun lobby, as the result of the saturation of the traditional white male market for guns in the U.S., have targeted Hispanics as a new untapped market for gun sales and hoped-for political power.

The VPC study is available in both English and Spanish and utilizes data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann states, “Hispanic men, women, boys, and girls are increasingly the victims of lethal gun violence in the U.S. Recognizing the vast gaps in data-gathering regarding Hispanic ethnicity in our nation, the actual numbers are certainly higher. At the same time, the gun industry is openly targeting Hispanics as an untapped market, which can only increase gun death and injury in this community.”

Key findings of the study include:

In 2023, more than 5,700 Hispanics were killed by guns. That year, 3,284 Hispanics died in gun homicides, 2,198 died in gun suicides, 63 died in unintentional shootings, and 202 died in other circumstances (including legal intervention and undetermined intent)
More than 83,000 Hispanics were killed by guns between 2002 and 2023. During this period, 51,780 Hispanics died in gun homicides, 27,160 died in gun suicides, and 1,220 died in unintentional shootings.
Most Hispanic murder victims are killed with guns. In 2023, 77 percent of Hispanic homicide victims were killed with firearms. The percentage of Hispanic homicide victims killed with a firearm steadily increased during this period, from 69 percent in 2002 to 77 percent in 2023. The latest data show that for homicides where the victim was Hispanic and a gun was used, 53 percent of these shootings involved a handgun
Of the 2,198 Hispanic firearm suicide victims in 2023, 1,949 (89 percent) were male and 249 (11 percent) were female
From 2002 to 2023, the female Hispanic firearm suicide rate doubled (from 0.4 per 100,000 to 0.8 per 100,000)
In 2015, the firearms industry and gun lobby launched a coordinated campaign targeting Hispanics and other communities of color in the U.S. to increase gun sales and hopefully increase the political power of the pro-gun movement.
As a result of the limitations in current data collection, the total number of Hispanic victims is almost certainly higher than the reported numbers suggest. Government agencies often report data on race but not on ethnic origin. Recognizing the changing demographic landscape in the United States, it is clear that fully documenting such victimization is a crucial step in preventing it

Recommendations of the study include:

Governmental agencies that collect data on death and injury should obtain complete information on the ethnic origin of individuals in addition to their race. This will ensure complete and accurate data collection on Hispanic victims of lethal violence.
Additional efforts should be undertaken to support current violence reduction programs and activities, as well as identify new violence reduction strategies, improve access to resources for victims and survivors of domestic violence, and identify anti-trafficking measures to help interrupt the flow of illegal firearms to impacted communities. At the same time, relevant organizations and advocates should be made aware of the firearms industry’s marketing efforts targeting the Hispanic community.

The age-adjusted Hispanic homicide and suicide rates published in the report were calculated by the CDC. The rates are calculated by dividing the number of relevant deaths in an age group by the population of that age group and multiplying the result by 100,000. This result is then weighted according to the U.S. Hispanic population. This study does not include Puerto Rico or other U.S. territories.

The complete report in English can be found at http://vpc.org/studies/hispanic25.pdf.

The complete report in Spanish can be found at http://vpc.org/studies/hispanicesp25.pdf.

Prior editions of the report in both English and Spanish, as well as VPC research focusing on lethal Hispanic victimization in California, can be found at www.vpc.org/hispanic.htm.

For more information on how the firearms industry, looking to expand beyond its shrinking base of white male gun owners, has launched an organized marketing campaign focusing on Hispanic and Black Americans, please see the January 2021 Violence Policy Center study How the Firearms Industry and NRA Market Guns to Communities of Color.

The Violence Policy Center is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. Follow the VPC on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky.