Former White House aide Sebastian Gorka says that “black African crime” is the “big issue” in the United States, not the mass shootings that get major news coverage.

Mr Gorka was pushing back on calls for gun control reforms in the US, after the latest mass shooting in America, where at least 58 people were killed by a gunman who shot down on a country music crowd in Las Vegas. In doing so, he claimed that the real problem in America’s gun crisis has to do with race — not the guns.

“Black young men are murdering each other by the bushel. This is a social issue,” Mr Gorka said during an appearance on a Sinclair-owned television station.

Chicago logged more homicides last year than any other major US City, with more than 700 by year’s end. But, while that murder rate is particularly high for the city, many have noted previously that framing that type of crime as a product only of race is problematic in a couple of ways.

One reason comes from the general racial makeup of America itself, which remains relatively segregated along racial lines years after desegregation efforts throughout the country. That means that people of any particular race tend to be more at risk of being murdered by people of their same reason — 85 per cent of white people killed each year are killed by other white people — not just in the African American community.

Plus, Americans are about 10 times more likely to be killed by guns than people in other developed countries, and are known to have much laxer regulations on buying and owning the weapons. Compared to 22 other high-income nations, the US’ gun-related murder rate is 25-times higher, and, while suicide rates themselves are generally similar, gun-related suicides are eight times higher, a study by The American Journal of Medicine noted last year.

Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People scramble for shelter at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People carry a person at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after shots were fired David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures A handout photo released via Twitter by Eiki Hrafnsson (@EirikurH) showing concertgoers running away from the scene (C) after shots range out at the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA/Eiki Hrafnsson Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People lie on the ground at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures A man in a wheelchair is taken away from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People stand on the street outside the Mandalay Bay hotel near the scene of the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA/Paul Buck Las Vegas shooting – in pictures FBI agents confer in front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting during a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Las Vegas police run by a banner on the fence at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after shots were fired David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival Ethan Miller/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Metro Police officers pass by the front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus Las Vegas shooting – in pictures A woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip AP/John Locher Las Vegas shooting – in pictures A cowboy hat lays in the street after shots were fired near a country music festival in Las Vegas Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers stage in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Sheriff Joe Lombardo (2-R) speaking during a press briefing in the aftermath of the active shooter incident on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA

“Overall, our results show that the U.S., which has the most firearms per capita in the world, suffers disproportionately from firearms compared with other high-income countries,“ Erin Grinshteyn, an assistant professor at the School of Community Health Science at the University of Nevada-Reno and author of the study, said in a release then. ”These results are consistent with the hypothesis that our firearms are killing us rather than protecting us.”