Here are the official DoJ statistics. There is a lot of interesting information here:

Bureau of Justice Statistics Homicide trends in the U.S.: Trends by race

Some of the highlights:

• in 2005 blacks were 6 times more likely than whites to be victims of homicides and 7 times more likely than whites to commit them;

• for the 30-year period 1976 - 2005, 65% of all drug related homicides were perpetrated by blacks, and 34% by whites;

• for the same period, 54% of gang-related homicides were committed by whites (including non-black Latinos), and 41% were committed by blacks;

• for the same period, 86% of white victims were killed by whites, and 94% of all black victims were killed by blacks;

• during this 30-year period, whites were more likely to be the offenders in cases involving multiple victims, but blacks were more likely to be the offenders in cases involving multiple assailants.

Teasing out the handgun vs. other weapon data is more complicated, but I'm working on it. Again, I apologize for posting that data from the apparently white supremacist New Century Foundation.


Bullseye