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Robert Hansen is a reporter with the Sacramento Observer who covers local politics, homelessness, police, racism in education, and other social issues in the Sacramento region.
While Black people make up roughly 12.6% of Sacramento County’s population, they account for about 52% of all gun-related deaths from 2019 to 2023, according to an Observer analysis of coroner data.
While Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper called the 2023 shooting death of a 10-year-old Black child an anomaly, the incident highlights the serious issue of people having guns who shouldn’t, and worse yet, children or teenagers having access to guns.