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The Human and Economic Toll of Gun Violence is Staggering

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The September 18 state-by-state examination of the economic costs of gun violence, reveals numbers that the committee called “staggering.” For instance, in 2017, for the first time, the rate of firearm deaths exceeded the death rate by motor vehicle accidents. Nearly 40,000 people were killed in the United States by a gun in 2017, including approximately 2,500 school-age children – or more than 100 people per day and more than five children murdered each day. Sixty percent of gun deaths each year are firearm suicides, researchers said.

Published

7 years ago

September 19, 2019

Oakland Post

Researchers said it's difficult to measure the economic costs of gun violence because in the past Congress has blocked federal funding for research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Photo: iStockphoto / NNPA)

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Approximately 7,500 African Americans are killed each year because of gun violence.

Further, it’s 20 times more likely that a young black male will die by a firearm homicide than a white peer, according to a new report.

In a study commissioned by Democratic members of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, researchers found that gun violence in America has especially taken its toll on young people.

The report found that rural states, where gun violence has reached its highest levels in decades are the hardest hit.

Researchers said Americans between the age of 15 and 24 are 50 times more likely to die because of gun violence than they are in other economically advanced countries.

The September 18 state-by-state examination of the economic costs of gun violence, reveals numbers that the committee called “staggering.”

For instance, in 2017, for the first time, the rate of firearm deaths exceeded the death rate by motor vehicle accidents.

Nearly 40,000 people were killed in the United States by a gun in 2017, including approximately 2,500 school-age children – or more than 100 people per day and more than five children murdered each day.

According to a 2019 Pew Research study, “Though they tend to get less attention than gun-related murders, suicides have long accounted for the majority of U.S. gun deaths. In 2017, six-in-ten gun-related deaths in the U.S. were suicides (23,854), while 37% were murders (14,542), according to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] CDC. The remainder were unintentional (486), involved law enforcement (553) or had undetermined circumstances (338).”

Directly measurable costs include lost income and spending, employer costs, police, and criminal justice responses and health care treatment.

“[More than] 200 days ago, the Democratic House took decisive action to end the gun violence epidemic in America by passing H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112, bipartisan, commonsense legislation to expand background checks, which is supported by more than 90 percent of the American people,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

“With the backing of the American people, we continue to call on Senator McConnell to ‘Give Us A Vote.'”

“For [more than] 200 days, Senator McConnell has refused to give the bipartisan bills a vote on the Senate Floor, “again and again putting his political survival before the survival of our children,” Schumer said.

“Every day that Senator McConnell blocks our House-passed, life-saving bills, an average of 100 people – including 47 children and teenagers – die from senseless gun violence. Some 20,000 have died since the House took action on February 27,” he said.

Schumer’s office has repeatedly voiced concern about gun violence in urban communities.

According to Everytown, an organization dedicated to addressing gun violence, “firearms are the leading cause of death for Black children and teens in America.”

Black children are ten times more likely to be hospitalized from gun/firearm violence and are 14 times more likely to die.

Officials said this fact is hurting Black children and teens at home and schools, especially in cities that lack the resources to stop gun violence and the trauma associated with it.

According to Everytown, students of color in cities are exposed to higher rates of violence.

The report also states, “although Black students represent approximately 15 percent of the total K-12 school population in America, they constitute 24 percent of the K-12 student victims of gunfire who were killed or injured on school grounds.”

Researchers for the Joint Economic Committee said gun violence has direct and indirect costs, including the reduction of quality of life due to pain and suffering.

Gun homicides are also associated with fewer jobs, lost businesses, and lower home values in local economies and communities across the nation.

The latest estimate is that gun violence imposes $229 billion in total annual costs on the United States – 1.4 percent of GDP, the report noted.

Researchers said it’s difficult to measure the economic costs of gun violence because in the past Congress has blocked federal funding for research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The more than 20-year ban has had a chilling effect on private and other research,” researchers wrote in the report.

“It is likely that the numbers underestimate the total costs of gun violence,” they said.

The report breaks down the direct costs in four categories – lost income, employer costs, health care, and police and criminal justice.

And it shines a spotlight on two of the fastest-growing areas of gun violence – suicides and firearm deaths of young people (under the age of 25).

Among the key findings:

Rural states (Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and West Virginia) have the highest costs of gun violence measured as a share of their economies.
States with high rates of gun ownership (Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, West Virginia, and Wyoming) have the highest rates of gun suicide.
The three largest states (California, Texas, and Florida) suffer the highest absolute costs.
The five states with the highest rate of gun death in descending order are Alaska, Montana, Alabama, Louisiana, and Missouri.
High youth death rates extend across the nation, with Alaska, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, and Delaware showing the highest rates.

“The human cost is beyond our ability to comprehend, it is tragic, it is sickening, and it is a crisis,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), the vice-chair of the committee, said in a news conference Wednesday. “The gun violence needs to stop, and we need to make it happen,” Maloney said.

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IN MEMORIAM: Rest in Power — Minnesota Loses a True Warrior in Yusef Mgeni

MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN RECORDER — Yusef Mgeni, a brilliant historian, community organizer, former St. Paul educator and fierce advocate for Black people, died on April 7, 2026, leaving behind a legacy that will echo through generations of Black Minnesota history and community building.

Published

55 minutes ago

April 15, 2026

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By MSR News Online

Minnesota and the world lost a powerful voice and a true warrior on April 7, 2026. Yusef Mgeni is gone, but his legacy will echo for generations.

Yusef was a brilliant historian, a community organizer, a former St. Paul educator, and a fierce advocate for Black people. He carried with him an extraordinary archive of speeches, books, articles, and photographs documenting the work of countless Black scholars and leaders. His knowledge was not just deep. It was generational. Talk to him about any subject concerning Black history, and he would give you a dissertation.

His roots in this community ran deeper than most people knew. Yusef was the grandnephew of Fredrick McGhee, the pioneering 20th-century civil rights activist and attorney who made his mark in St. Paul at the turn of the century. That lineage was not lost on Yusef. He carried it forward with pride and purpose, spending decades making sure the stories of Black Minnesotans were told, preserved, and passed on.

As a journalist, Yusef called NAACP leaders and community figures to identify the issues that mattered most to Black people and wrote about them in local newspapers. He was a contributor to the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, a platform he understood and respected deeply. As a former St. Paul NAACP vice president, he remained active and engaged well into his retirement, answering emails and voicemails for residents who were at their wits’ end, helping them navigate evictions, legal challenges, and systemic barriers.

“Generally, they contact us when they are at their wits’ end,” he once said. “They are going to get evicted; their car is getting repossessed. We assist in navigating the system.”

His work was always about access. Under his leadership and alongside other NAACP leaders, the St. Paul chapter helped establish a landmark covenant between the police and the St. Paul community in 2001, a model that contributed to dramatically lower excessive-force costs than in Minneapolis in the decade that followed.

Yusef was also a passionate champion of ethnic studies in Minnesota’s schools, understanding that education rooted in Black and Brown history was not a supplement to American history but central to it.

“Ethnic studies is also American history,” he said. “The fact that the legislature and the MDE have both endorsed ethnic studies requirements in schools is a real plus for giving people the opportunity to explore and learn more about American history, and more importantly, to see themselves reflected in that learning.”

In the 1970s and ’80s, Yusef worked alongside Mrs. Clarissa Walker at the Sabathani Community Center, where they poured their energy into uplifting and empowering the community. Their work helped shape the cultural and political landscape of South Minneapolis during a critical era. They were part of a generation that built institutions, nurtured young people, and fought for justice with unwavering commitment.

Yusef also played a key role in the early development of KMOJ Radio, helping to establish a platform that amplified Black voices long before it was common or convenient. His activism extended through education, the St. Paul NAACP, the Million Man March, and the Urban Coalition, always rooted in a deep and abiding love for his people.

He was also an interviewee in the Rondo neighborhood oral history project preserved by the Minnesota Historical Society, ensuring that the voices and stories of that community would never be lost.

Not long ago, a colleague was blessed to sit with Yusef at his home, where he reflected on his life and his legacy. He talked about his work in education, his activism, and his years of service to the community. But what stood out just as much was how he spoke about his family and his people, with warmth, with pride, and with purpose.

Today, we honor him not only for what he accomplished but for the spirit with which he did it.

A scholar. A builder. A warrior. A keeper of our stories.

Thank you, Yusef, for everything you gave and everything you sacrificed on behalf of Black people. Your legacy stands tall, and our community is better because of you.

Rest in Power, Yusef Mgeni.

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Revolve Fund to Provide $20,000 to Support Food Access Efforts in Alabama Black Belt

THE AFRO — “Revolve Fund complements its core mission of improving capital access for entrepreneurs by partnering with leading organizations that are addressing critical community needs,” said James Wahls, founder and managing director of Revolve Fund. “Like BBCF, Revolve understands at the most fundamental level, everyone should have access to healthy food.”

Published

1 hour ago

April 15, 2026

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By Revolve Fund | The AFRO

SELMA – As over 40 million Americans grappled with the reality of not being able to feed themselves or their families due to SNAP delays, Revolve Fund is seeking to help. Revolve Fund has announced a $20,000 community grant to the Black Belt Community Foundation as part of the duo’s continued partnership. The grant will increase the foundation’s capacity to execute programs and fundraise to support food access efforts in the Alabama Black Belt region.

“Revolve Fund complements its core mission of improving capital access for entrepreneurs by partnering with leading organizations that are addressing critical community needs,” said James Wahls, founder and managing director of Revolve Fund. “Like BBCF, Revolve understands at the most fundamental level, everyone should have access to healthy food.”

“BBCF is deeply grateful for the Revolve Fund’s grant to underwrite direct food support in the Black Belt during the current disruption of SNAP benefits, continuing high food costs and unprecedented strain on our local food banks,” said Christopher Spencer, president and CEO, Black Belt Community Foundation. “As BBCF mobilizes resources and community partners during this time, Revolve is one of the first philanthropic organizations to step forward to support our Food for Families in the Black Belt Campaign. We look ahead to our productive, continued partnership with them to positively impact and transform the Black Belt region of Alabama.”

“While our communities need and deserve so much more, we hope our contribution will support the foundation’s ability to work with other philanthropic partners, individual donors, charities, and public partners,” Wahls added.

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Mamdani Plans City Grocery Store in East Harlem

NEW YORK CARIB NEWS — The store will be located at La Marqueta, a historic marketplace beneath the elevated Park Avenue tracks. The project is expected to cost approximately $30 million and is slated to open next year, utilizing currently vacant space within the city-owned facility. Operating rent-free, officials say the model is intended to lower overhead and pass savings on to consumers.

Published

2 hours ago

April 15, 2026

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New York Carib News

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced plans to establish the city’s first municipally owned grocery store in East Harlem, a flagship initiative aimed at addressing rising food costs and improving access to affordable essentials.

The store will be located at La Marqueta, a historic marketplace beneath the elevated Park Avenue tracks. The project is expected to cost approximately $30 million and is slated to open next year, utilizing currently vacant space within the city-owned facility. Operating rent-free, officials say the model is intended to lower overhead and pass savings on to consumers.

Mamdani unveiled the plan during an event marking his first 100 days in office, reaffirming a campaign pledge to build a network of five city-owned grocery stores, one in each borough, by the end of his first term in 2029.

“During our campaign, we promised New Yorkers that we would create a network of five city-owned grocery stores,” Mamdani said. “Today, we make good on that promise.”

The mayor positioned the initiative as a direct response to surging grocery prices, noting that food costs in New York City rose by nearly 66% between 2013 and 2023, significantly outpacing the national average. He argued that the city-run stores would provide fair pricing, improve worker conditions, and ease the financial burden on low-income households.

“We’re going to make it easier for New Yorkers to put food on the table,” Mamdani said, adding that staples such as eggs and bread would be more affordable.

However, the proposal is already drawing scrutiny. The estimated cost of the East Harlem store would consume nearly half of the $70 million budget initially outlined for the entire five-store program. Despite this, Mamdani remains confident that the initiative will deliver long-term benefits and help reshape access to affordable groceries across the city.

The announcement also drew political attention, with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders making a surprise appearance at the event in support of the mayor’s broader economic agenda.