<P> African Americans were 55% of the victims of gun homicide in 2010, but 13% of the population . Non-Hispanic whites were 25% of victims but 65% of the population in 2010 . Hispanics were 17% of victims and 16% of the population in 2010 . </P> <P> According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 1980 to 2008, 84% of white homicide victims were killed by white offenders and 93% of black homicide victims were killed by black offenders . </P> <P> Public policy as related to preventing gun violence is an ongoing political and social debate regarding both the restriction and availability of firearms within the United States . Policy at the Federal level is / has been governed by the Second Amendment, National Firearms Act, Gun Control Act of 1968, Firearm Owners Protection Act, Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, and the Domestic Violence Offender Act . Gun policy in the U.S. has been revised many times with acts such as the Firearm Owners Protection Act, which loosened provisions for gun sales while also strengthening automatic firearms law . </P> <P> At the federal, state and local level gun laws such as handgun bans have been overturned by the Supreme Court in cases such as District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago . These cases hold that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm . Columbia v. Heller only addressed the issue on Federal enclaves, while McDonald v. Chicago addressed the issue as relating to the individual states . </P>

Number of gun related injuries in the us