Study: Indiana Is The Epicenter For Black Homicides

Matt Vespa | March 06, 2016 2:31 PM

The Hoosier State may have some prominent sports franchises and the Indy 500, but it also has been declared as the state with the highest rate of black homicides. Of course, the gun control movement was quick to blame weak gun laws (via KPNX):

Indiana has the highest rate of black homicide victims in the country, according to a study conducted by the national nonprofit Violence Policy Center.

The study uses FBI homicide data to rank states according to their black homicide victimization rates. According to the study, there were 213 black homicide victims in Indiana in 2013, or 34.15 victims per 100,000 people.

That is double the national black homicide victimization rate and eight times the overall homicide rate nationwide, according to the center. Last year, the study found Indianapolis had the sixth-highest rate of black homicide victims in the country based on 2012 data.

The states with the second and third highest rates were Missouri and Michigan, respectively.

[…]

Paul Helmke, director of the Civic Leaders Center at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, called the study "something that as a state we should be embarrassed by."

"Generally, I think it shows that we probably have too many gangs and too many drugs and too many guns in this state," Helmke said.

The study found that of the cases where a weapon could be identified, 90 percent of victims were shot and killed with a gun.

Helmke, the former president and CEO of the Brady Center and Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said weak gun laws might have an impact on such numbers.

Obviously, it’s not good; though tread carefully with this study. There’s no doubt that the rate of black homicides is probably (and unacceptably) high. Yet, the Violence Policy Center has skewed data before, like their egregious study on so-called “concealed carry killers,” which lumped those with CCWs who were convicted of crimes, with those whose trials were pending. That’s not the same thing and was rightfully called out by the Crime Prevention Center’s John Lott as a shameful move to inflate the numbers. Like law enforcement, concealed carry holders are incredibly law-abiding; you have to be in order to obtain the permit itself. In some states, data on concealed carry holders abusing their license is often not reported anymore because it occurs so infrequently.