Gun culture among Latinos: who has them and what they use them for

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🚨 Breaking news: The Supreme Court issued a ruling this morning that will allow the Joe Biden government to end the immigration policy of Title 42.

1 topic to highlight: Latinos with firearms

One in five Latinos

in the United States have firearms in their homes, and an even smaller proportion have used them to hunt or have fired them for other reasons, according to a survey conducted by the Ipsos firm for Axios in association with Noticias Telemundo.

Why It Matters

: The results offer a look at gun culture among Hispanics, a month after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers in the largely Mexican-American city of Uvalde, Texas.

• Ninety-three percent of the 1,018 Latino adults surveyed said they support making a criminal background check mandatory to buy guns.

  Eighty-two percent said they support red flag laws, which allow authorities to temporarily seize guns from people who are reported as possibly dangerous to the community or to themselves.

The Full Armor Firearms store in Houston, TexasMARK FELIX / AFP /AFP via Getty Images

Big Picture

: President Joe Biden signed the first significant gun law in decades last week.

• The rule imposes more detailed background checks on buyers under the age of 21;

  funding for mental health and school safety;

  incentives for states to implement red flag laws, and the inclusion in alert systems of people convicted of domestic violence.

• That would adjust the so-called “

  boyfriend loophole

  ”: the one that only married or divorced people who were convicted of domestic violence are prohibited from buying weapons, but in the rest of couple relationships there are no restrictions.

In figures

: 17% of those surveyed stated that there are weapons in their homes or in their cars.

About two-thirds said the guns belong to them (and not to other members of their family).

• In general, in the United States, about 40% of people say that there are weapons in their homes, according to various studies and surveys.

• Only 7% of Latinos said they hunted or shot for sport.

• Around 14% indicated that they have fired a weapon, regardless of the reason.

• Looking at Latino community groups, 23% of Puerto Ricans said they had a gun in their homes, compared to 18% of Mexican-Americans and 17% of groups of other origins, such as Central American nations.

But, but, but

: In 2021 nearly 40% of gun dealers reported an increase in Latinos buying firearms, according to a survey by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade association.

• Additionally, Latinos purchased firearms in 2020 at a 49% higher rate than in 2019, according to that group.

2. An alarming increase for Hispanics

The pandemic has led to an "unprecedented" increase

in pregnancy-related deaths of women, 74% in 2020 compared to previous years.

The increase for non-Hispanic blacks was 40%, and for non-Hispanic whites it was 17%.

Pregnant Latinas are more likely to suffer cardiovascular accidents, according to study

April 27, 202202:43

News push

: Maternal mortality rates rose in the United States after COVID-19 took hold.

But they disproportionately affected Hispanic and black women, according to a new analysis.

• Much of the increase was due to viral and respiratory illnesses, Marie Thoma, one of the study's co-authors, told Axios reporter Arielle Dreher.

  That suggests that COVID-19 has been a strong contributing cause of more Latinas dying.

• Other studies had already found that pregnant Latinas are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.

Between the lines

: The study has come to the fore when the repeal of Roe v.

Wade by the Supreme Court, ending federal abortion protections, may put Latino, Black, Native American and Asian Americans at particular risk, as those groups face more barriers to accessing health care.

Details

: Maternal deaths from diabetes and hypertensive disorders have also increased during the pandemic, which could be related to diagnosed COVID-19 infections or a result of many non-white women delaying seeing a doctor due to lack of money, time, or sure.

3. A hope for the oceans

Colombia has become the first country in the Western Hemisphere

to convert 30% of its ocean territory into a protected area, outgoing President Iván Duque announced this week.

Activities such as fishing and oil exploration will be prohibited in most of these protected areas.

Aerial view of a beach in Capurganá, part of Colombia's Chocó province, on March 19, 2022Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Why It Matters

: Ocean degradation caused by fishing, coral reef bleaching, pollution, and other factors, along with rising sea levels and temperatures from climate change, increase the likelihood of human death, flooding and loss of food sources.

• Not to mention the devastating consequences for ocean biodiversity.

• The oceans produce half of all the world's oxygen and absorb about a quarter of the carbon dioxide produced by humans.

• That makes them key to maintaining life on Earth and helping to mitigate the effects of the climate emergency.

More than

have joined a pact to protect 30% of the oceans by 2030 (known as the 30x30 initiative) since it was proposed three years ago.

• Less than 8% of the oceans are currently protected areas, according to the Marine Conservation Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Seattle.

Details

: Colombia announced the creation of four new marine protected areas during the United Nations Conference on the Oceans, this Monday.

In this way, in a high percentage of its seas there will be preservation measures and extractive activities will be prohibited.

• In the course of the last year other Latin American nations such as Costa Rica, Chile and Panama have also made considerable progress in the 30x30 plans.

Important

: Nine Pacific countries signed a declaration at the Summit of the Americas to act faster in protecting ocean areas and collaborate more: United States, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Canada, Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia.

4. Among migrant deaths, politicking

Texas authorities continue to uncover details about how 53 people died locked in a truck in San Antonio.

The 'death truck' traveled 145 miles and passed a checkpoint without being detected

June 29, 202202:32

News Momentum:

Details about the victims have begun to emerge.

In the truck were two Honduran brothers, ages 19 and 22, who wanted to cross to earn money to buy their mother a house.

Guatemalan cousins ​​Wilmer Tulul and Pascual Melvin Guachiac had left for the US in search of a better life from a Quechua community in Tzucubal.

• Prosecutors filed criminal charges against the alleged truck driver, identified as Homero Zamorano and accused of human smuggling.

  Another man identified as Christian Martinez was charged with "conspiring to smuggle" people that resulted in deaths.

Meanwhile, migrant advocates

and Democrats have accused Texas Governor Greg Abbot of politicizing the tragedy.

Abbott uses truck tragedy to step up crackdown on illegal immigration

June 29, 202200:27

• Abbott, who has made immigration a linchpin of his re-election campaign, blamed President Joe Biden for the deaths, saying they were due to "his deadly open borders policy."

• Biden responded

  Tuesday: "Exploiting vulnerable people for profit is shameful, as is the political bluster surrounding the tragedy, and my administration will continue to do everything it can to stop human traffickers," he said.

Experts say

Abbott's claim about an "open" border is inaccurate, pointing out that some of former President Donald Trump's signature policies are intact.

With the border as closed as it is today to migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, people have been pushed onto increasingly dangerous routes.

Truck smuggling is on the rise."

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, American Immigration Council

5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean

1. The Chilean constitutional convention finalized its draft,

which is ready to be voted on in a plebiscite on September 4.

• Drafting a new constitution was one of the main slogans of the 2019 protests with claims of socioeconomic inequality.

  Protesters and specialists criticized that the current constitution, drafted during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, does not allow for better social protections.

• The 387 articles proposed by the convention include the right to a clean and healthy environment (which opens the door to constitutional protections against global warming and actions against the climate emergency).

  The text also codifies reproductive freedoms, including both the rights to chosen motherhood and the voluntary termination of a pregnancy.

  Although it will be up to Congress to determine how abortion would be regulated.

• Since 2017 Chile allows abortion but only in cases of rape, danger to the woman's health or when the fetus is not viable.

Members of the Chilean Constitutional Convention on May 16, 2022Cristian Rudolffi/AFP via Getty Images

2. Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso survived an impeachment attempt this week

amid strong protests with roadblocks that have stopped the flow of oil and food to many provinces.

• At least five protesters have died, according to NGOs.

• The vote was 84-42 in favor, with 11 abstentions.

  The National Assembly needed 92 votes for the impeachment motion.

3. Colombia must reform its Armed Forces and explore the legalization of drugs

, says a landmark report from the Truth Commission of the 2016 peace accords with the FARC.

• The recommendations, presented on Wednesday, include that the Defense Ministry no longer be in charge of the National Police and that a Ministry of Peace be created.

• The incoming government of Gustavo Petro has said that it will follow up on his recommendations.

6. We will swim, in the sea, the sea, the sea

Chilean athlete and psychologist Bárbara Hernández has broken a Guinness record by swimming a nautical mile in 15 minutes and 3 seconds.

The Ice Mermaid: Chilean swimmer breaks record swimming in frozen waters

June 16, 202200:43

Details

: Hernandez was recognized this month for her feat, even though she did the swim in February.

She crossed through the Strait of Magellan, moving between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

• One nautical mile is equal to 1.15 miles on land, or 1.85 kilometers.

• Hernández said that now he wants to break records in Antarctica. 

Pachanga Thursday

Wow, these Latinas got to work: this week in our reader's space we celebrate Juliana Anthony Hernández and Elena Gaona.

Feeling that more Latino participation was needed in the world of children's books, they launched a publisher for it.

Photo courtesy of Elena Gaona.

Illustration by Axios Visuals

Hernández, who is a teacher and lives in San Diego, and Gaona, a former journalist, launched La Joya Press in 2020. This month their first book,

, was published .

Congratulations!

 Thank you for reading!

We will be back on Tuesday.

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