One Chart Showing How Race Influences Your Chance of Dying from Gun Violence

A second chart shows who’s on TV talking about it.

Gun victim data from the 2010 FBI Uniform Crime Report.

The waves of press following recent horrific mass shootings in Connecticut, Colorado, and elsewhere have brought gun violence back onto the national agenda.

One thing that sometimes gets obscured in the debate, however: The victims of gun violence remain overwhelmingly African-American. Indeed, black people make up just about 13% of the population of the United States — but more than half of all victims of gun violence.

Black victims are overwhelmingly killed by handguns, and the congressional focus on semi-automatic rifles has no obvious connection to the violence plaguing cities like Chicago.

One factor in the intense focus on white victims may be who is leading the conversation. Here’s a snapshot of the people talking about guns on cable news between January 29 and February 5:

(Data on cable news pertains to January 29, 2013 to February 5, 2013. In that period, 68% of the reporters and guests on MSNBC talking about guns were white; 78% on CNN; and 93% on Fox.)