Who Is at Risk of Gun Death Rates?

November 5, 2026 Sam Jacobs

by Cassandra McBride

Gun deaths don’t affect every American equally. From race and ethnicity to age and gender, some consistently have higher gun death rates than others.

Augusta Precious Metals: Best Gold IRA Company? See the Proof. Use this tool to test gold IRA companies for ethics.

Our most recent report analyzes the most at-risk demographics in the U.S.

Here are the highlights:

Augusta Precious Metals—Thoughtful Gold IRA Education.

According to the most recent FBI Supplementary Homicide Report data, males accounted for a larger share of firearm-homicide offenders (90.8%) and victims (84.2%) than females in 2020.
Non-Hispanic black Americans accounted for the largest share (57.5%) of gun violence deaths (homicide, legal intervention, and operations of war) from 2020 through 2025,* with a gun violence death rate of 24.8 per 100,000 individuals.
Adults 85 and older had the highest firearm suicide rate of any age group (16.9 per 100,000) from 2020 through 2025.* Those 65 and older accounted for 27.1% of all gun suicides.

Who Commits the Most Homicides?

Per the SHR in 2020, males accounted for 90.8%, black Americans accounted for 63.5%, and individuals aged 25 to 49 accounted for 47.4% of all homicide offenders with known characteristics who used firearms. Males also accounted for 84.2% of firearm homicide victims with a known gender.

Across all weapons, between 2020 and 2025, male offenders accounted for the largest share of homicide perpetrators (87.8%) among genders. Black Americans accounted for the largest share of homicide offenders (57.4%) among races. Individuals aged 20 through 29 accounted for the largest share of offenders (35.3%) by age group.

Of the 105,555 homicides reported to the FBI between January 2020 and December 2025, 79,521 (75.3%) were attributed to firearms. 2 For a full breakdown of how homicides split across firearms, knives, and other weapons, see our study of murders by weapon type.