Gun violence is a top voting issue for Latinos and Latinas this election cycle.
In fact, Latines across the country have widely supported gun safety initiatives for several election cycles now — likely because the community is disproportionately impacted by the dangers of guns. The Center for American Progress found that Hispanics are twice as likely to die from gun violence than their white counterparts. The U.S. Surgeon General also declared gun violence a public health crisis for the first time ever this year.
“Latino voters believe that guns are too easy to access and they want elected officials to put an end to school shootings and expand community safety and mental health programs,” Clarissa Martinez De Castro, Vice President of the Latino Vote Initiative at UnidosUS, told Latino USA. “This really raises the need for candidates and parties to pay greater attention to this issue.”
This topic is especially relevant in Texas, where over 40% of the population — the largest demographic in the state — is Latine.
Texas has more registered guns than any other state in the country. It’s also home to some of the worst mass shootings the U.S. has ever seen, some directly impacting Latinos and Latinas. In August 2019, a gunman traveled hundreds of miles to El Paso, Texas and killed 23 people at a local Walmart. He was specifically targeting Hispanics because he believed there was an “invasion” on the border. In May 2022, a mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 schoolchildren and two teachers dead. Most were Latinos and Latinas.
Latino USA covered both the El Paso Walmart shooting and the Uvalde mass shooting when they happened and has continued to report on them afterwards, including a documentary produced in collaboration with Frontline.
In this episode, Latino USA returns to the Lone Star State. Producer Reynaldo Leaños Jr. travels to El Paso, Texas to speak with Latinx activists and gun owners about gun reform and safety ahead of the November presidential election. Maria Hinojosa returns to Uvalde, Texas to catch-up with a survivor of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary and see how the community has been mobilizing around gun reform.
This story is part of our ongoing political coverage “The Latino Factor: How We Vote”.
Featured image by AP Photo/John Locher, File.
This episode was reported and produced by Reynaldo Leaños Jr. and Maria Hinojosa and edited by Alejandra Salazar. It was mixed by J.J. Querubin.
Special thanks to producer Keyla Padilla and Texas Public Radio for their help with field production.
