Chart: Disparity of deaths by firearms shaped by race

By Brandt Williams, Minnesota Public Radio
April 24, 2013

The firearm-suicide crude rate for non-Hispanic whites in Minnesota is three-times higher than for non-Hispanic African-Americans. The gun homicide age-adjusted rate is 12-times higher for African-Americans than it is for whites in Minnesota.

ABOUT THIS DATA: The age-adjusted rate Minnesota African-American deaths from gun suicides with a sample of 17 is too small to be statistically reliable, according to Jon Roesler, epidemiologist at the Minnesota Department of Health. The chart representing age-adjusted rate, therefore, does not reflect the value.

"Age adjusting takes into account the differences in the age distribution of different populations, so that you can make the rates more directly comparable," Roesler said.

CITATION: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2010 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released 2012. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2010, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program.

Graphic by Robert Boos, Minnesota Public Radio