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Spotlighting considerable racial disparities in modern criminal enforcement of gun prohibitions

By Douglas Berman

I came across this notable recent commentary by Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe titled “The very racist history of gun control: The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is indispensable to Black equality.”  The piece highlights some of the racialized history of gun control in the US, but it failed to discuss the important modern reality of racially disparities in criminal enforcement of gun prohibitions.  And with the US Supreme Court taking up a major Second Amendment case in the coming Term with New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett, I think it important to spotlight how gun control laws are actually enforced in federal and state criminal justice systems.

We can start in New York because the SCOTUS case comes from that state and because the Black Attorneys of Legal Aid caucus and lots of NY public defender offices filed this interesting amicus brief to highlight how gun control enforcement actually operates:

[E]ach year, we represent hundreds of indigent people whom New York criminally charges for exercising their right to keep and bear arms. For our clients, New York’s licensing regime renders the Second Amendment a legal fiction.  Worse, virtually all our clients whom New York prosecutes for exercising their Second Amendment right are Black or Hispanic. And that is no accident. New York enacted its firearm licensing requirements to criminalize gun ownership by racial and ethnic minorities.  That remains the effect of its enforcement by police and prosecutors today.

The consequences for our clients are brutal.  New York police have stopped, questioned, and frisked our clients on the streets.  They have invaded our clients’ homes with guns drawn, terrifying them, their families, and their children.  They have forcibly removed our clients from their homes and communities and abandoned them in dirty and violent jails and prisons for days, weeks, months, and years.  They have deprived our clients of their jobs, children, livelihoods, and ability to live in this country.  And they have branded our clients as “criminals” and “violent felons” for life.  They have done all of this only because our clients exercised a constitutional right….

In 2020, while Black people made up 18% of New York’s population, they accounted for 78% of the state’s felony gun possession cases.  Non-Latino white people, who made up 70% of New York’s population, accounted for only 7% of such prosecutions.  Black people were also more likely to have monetary bail set, as opposed to release on their own recognizance or under supervision, even when comparing individuals with no criminal record.  When looking at only N.Y. Penal Law § 265.03(3) — which alleges only possession of a loaded firearm — 80% of people in New York who are arraigned are Black while 5% are non-Hispanic white. Furthermore, according to NYPD arrest data, in 2020, 96% of arrests made for gun possession under N.Y. Penal Law § 265.03(3) in New York City were of Black or Latino people.  This percentage has been above 90% for 13 consecutive years.

For another example, consider great recent work by Loyola University Chicago’s Center for Criminal Justice Research, Policy and Practice in recent reports on “Arrests in Illinois for Illegal Possession of a Firearm” and “Sentences Imposed on Those Convicted of Felony Illegal Possession of a Firearm in Illinois.”  Here is key arrest data from this first report: “Black males between the ages of 18 and 24 had the highest arrest rate statewide; for every 100,000 Black male between the ages of 18 and 24, there were 2,404 arrests….  By comparison, the statewide arrest rate for White males between 18 and 24 was 307 per 100,000, and 1,108 per 100,000 for Hispanic males between 18 and 24.”  And case-processing data from the second report details how Black offenders are more likely to be convicted on more serious charges: “[T]he majority (79%) of convictions for Class 2 felonies occurred in Cook County, whereas the majority (59%) of convictions for Class 3 felonies occurred outside Cook County.  Also, while the majority of those convicted of either felony class were Black individuals, a larger share of those convicted of the more serious Class 2 felony were Black (83%), compared to 64% of those convicted of Class 3 felony offenses.”

And, lest one think these kinds of racial disparities are unique to state systems, the US Sentencing Commission published in March 2018 this potent report titled “Mandatory Minimum Penalties For Firearms Offenses In The Federal System.”  Here is part of that report’s “Key Findings” under the heading “Firearms mandatory minimum penalties continue to impact Black offenders more than any other racial group” (with my emphasis added):

  • Black offenders were convicted of a firearms offense carrying a mandatory minimum more often than any other racial group.  In fiscal year 2016, Black offenders accounted for 52.6 percent of offenders convicted under section 924(c), followed by Hispanic offenders (29.5%), White offenders (15.7%) and Other Race offenders (2.2%).
  • The impact on Black offenders was even more pronounced for offenders convicted either of multiple counts under section 924(c) or offenses carrying a mandatory minimum penalty under the Armed Career Criminal Act.  Black offenders accounted for more than two-thirds of such offenders (70.5% and 70.4%, respectively).
  • Black offenders also generally received longer average sentences for firearms offenses carrying a mandatory minimum penalty than any other racial group.  In fiscal year 2016, Black offenders convicted under section 924(c) received an average sentence of 165 months, compared to 140 months for White offenders and 130 months for Hispanic offenders.  Only Other Race offenders received longer average sentences (170 months), but they accounted for only 2.2 percent of section 924(c) offenders.
  • Similarly, Black offenders convicted of an offense carrying a mandatory minimum penalty under the Armed Career Criminal Act received longer average sentences than any other racial group at 185 months, compared to 178 months for White offenders, 173 months for Hispanic offenders, and 147 months for Other Race offenders.

Of course, the Supreme Court’s eventual Second Amendment ruling in the Corlett case, no matter what it holds or says, is highly unlikely to dramatically alter the considerable racial disparities in modern criminal enforcement of gun prohibitions.  But, as debate over Second Amendment jurisprudence and gun control policy heats up in the coming months, I hope everyone keeps in mind the disconcerting demographic realities that consistently define modern criminal enforcement practice in the gun control space.