New Alameda County report finds racial, economic disparities in gun deaths

ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Over the past few years, on average, three Alameda County residents are killed by a firearm every week - 12 are shot and injured. The numbers are based a new report about gun violence in Alameda County.

"Many time people think of it as a public safety issue exclusively. And so, we wanted to frame it in a way that we can look at gun violence from the public health standpoint," says Kristen Clopton, who is the violence prevention Manager at the Alameda County Public Health Department's Office of Violence Prevention, which authored the report.

Among the other key findings: guns are the leading cause of death among children and young adults. Black residents are 33 times more likely to die from gun-related homicide than white residents. And the county's poorest neighborhoods in West Oakland face gun homicide rates eight times higher than the county's wealthiest areas.

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"So that stresses the importance of programs that works towards reducing poverty, and supporting food, housing and health care that remain essential to our entire community," says Clopton.

The report also states that the high levels of gun violence in Alameda County is part of what it refers to as a legacy of racist public policies that created under-resourced communities with limited opportunities and easy access to firearms.

"Access to resources, other support, whether health care, mental health services, etc. And we have a duty within public health, (and) community wide, to start looking at how we improve those opportunities," says Clopton.

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The report details that most gun violence is concentrated in low-income neighborhoods in Oakland. But it also points out that there was a 16% drop in gun violence across all of Alameda County in 2024.

The report also offers solutions to around reducing gun violence through programs that focus on intervention and prevention.

"We believe those who are close to the pain and also close to the solution," says George Galvis, executive director of Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, or CURYJ, which for years has been working on violence prevention in Alameda County.

Galvis is encouraged that the report is raising this strategy at the county level. He hopes it can shift funding from incarceration to prevention.

"We can't incarcerate, we cannot police our way into public safety. And so, where we can actually make investments that address root causes, create transformation, is going to be critical," says Galvis.