Delaware gun violence roundtable highlights progress, but age, race disparities in gun possession and deaths remain

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Delaware elected leaders, nonprofit organizations and law enforcement officials say while the state has seen a decrease in gun violence, challenges remain in confronting the crisis.

Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride hosted the roundtable discussion Tuesday, along with former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who was the victim of a mass shooting in 2011. She has since founded a nonprofit organization to fight for gun safety policies.

“In Congress, just like I tried to do at the state level, I’ve tried to be a voice for policies that I know at the national level will save lives at a time when we’re seeing a gutting of funding for grants, for programs that are working,” McBride said.

A January 2024 news release by Attorney General Kathy Jennings said gun violence had fallen 20% since 2020, with homicides in Wilmington finishing 2023 at a five-year low. Shootings in Dover declined by 23% in the same period, the news release said.

Members of the roundtable pointed to drops since the pandemic, including those in domestic violence fatalities, as a sign of successful collaboration and data sharing efforts. Many pointed to the pivotal role mental health and social workers are playing in getting resources to those at-risk individuals.

But 2023 data pulled from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and analyzed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Gun Violence Solutions shows the challenges the state still faces. While Delaware had the 13th lowest gun death rate in the country that year, its overall gun death rate increased by 8% from 2014 to 2023. Black males ages 15-34 made up 3% of the state’s population but accounted for 40% of all gun homicide deaths.

Wilmington Police Chief Wilfredo Campos said his officers are seeing young people with high-caliber weapons, rifles, and handguns turned into automatic weapons, along with extended magazines and drones that have high-capacity ammunition.

“One of those was a 12-year-old with a handgun,” he said. “So that’s what we’re starting to see younger and younger, a generation of kids who are carrying these firearms.”

Traci Murphy, with the Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence, said policy makers and community members, including gun dealers, have to do their part to keep children from accessing weapons.

“When you hear about a 12-year-old accessing a firearm, you know that someone has failed,” she said. “An adult has failed if a 12-year-old is getting their hands on a firearm.”

Event participants also highlighted the fact that suicides outpace murders across the state. A report from 2023 Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions reveals 124 gun deaths that year, including 43 homicides and 76 suicides.

Roundtable participants credited the Group Violence Intervention project created by former Gov. John Carney and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention created earlier this year by Gov. Matt Meyer for helping combat gun violence in the state. Lawmakers also established a statewide Office of Suicide Prevention, which is awaiting action by Meyer.

Suicides are trending up across the country. John Hopkins reported six out of 10 gun deaths nationally in 2023 were suicides. Gun suicides also surged among young Black and Hispanic/Latino residents over the past decade.

David Chen, medical director for Empowering Victims of Lived Violence at ChristianaCare, said he was concerned that federal cuts, including to food assistance and healthcare, could cause economic instability and drive someone to suicidal ideation.

“I was talking with a community partner recently who had noted within the Black community here in Wilmington that some persons, they may feel in such distress they get into riskier situations that are reckless,” Chen said. “Putting themselves out there in a manner they would not have done had they felt more secure.”

Most of the participants of the roundtable said funding was the greatest need to continue their work. Some expressed concern about federal cuts over the past several months, including proposed cuts to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which critics contend will undermine efforts to prevent violence crime.

This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.