FILE - Oakland police investigate a double shooting in East Oakland, Calif., on June 29, 2022. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images) DETROIT - About 2 in 10 U.S.
adults say they or someone close to them has had a personal experience with gun violence, according to a recent poll that shows Black and Hispanic adults are especially likely to have had their lives touched by it.The poll by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 54% of Black Americans and 27% of Hispanic Americans reported that they or a close friend or family member experienced gun violence in the last five years, compared with of 13% of white Americans.
Overall, 21% of U.S. adults reported a personal tie to gun violence, such as being threatened by a gun or being a victim of a shooting.Ebony Brown, a 39-year-old accountant in Atlanta, is among those who has seen gun violence touch those close to her.
Her brother was shot to death in 2002 in Jacksonville, Florida, while visiting from college."He was at the right place at the wrong time," said Brown, who is Black.RELATED: Gun laws across the U.S.An acquaintance of a friend pulled a gun during an attempted robbery at a home and shot several people, including Brown's brother, who she said died instantly.