I don’t know how much presenting data on gun violence and gun laws will help the situation, but my blog needs an update on this. Providing perspective should help to indicate future directions to pursue.
Active shooter incidents in 2021 were 50% greater than they were in 2020. The firearm Homocide Rate per 100k graph is shown below, through 2020.
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence at giffords.org has a ranking of gun legislation by states, shown in the map by grades A-F, below. California is graded A, and Texas is graded F.
The Giffords Law Center aggregates for 2021 that 27 states and DC passed 75 gun safety bills, but 19 states passed 64 dangerous gun laws, like banning enforcement of federal gun laws, guns in public spaces and schools, expanding concealed carry, permitless carry, and stand your ground.
giffords.org has a graph of the Annual State Gun Death Rates per 100,000 by Gun Law Strength Ranking on the x-axis, below (from 1 to 50). The diagonal line shows a good correlation between the two. Texas is near the right, ranked 36th, but below the line with 14.2 deaths per 100k. California is on the far left with the best (lowest) Gun Law Strength Ranking, but a little above the diagonal line with 8.5 deaths per 100k. Florida is ranked number 24, and has 13.7 gun deaths per 100k. New York is 6th, and has 5.3 gun deaths per 100k. This graph shows the correlation between looser gun legislation and increased gun deaths per capita.
(There is actually no reason that a 1 to 50 ranking in laws should be linear in effects.)
The safest state is Hawaii with only 3.4 gun deaths per 100k. The deadliest state is Mississippi with 28.6 gun deaths per 100k. With 45,009 gun deaths in 2021, the national average for 330 million Americans is 13.6 per 100k.
There were 20,919 homicide/murder/unintentional/defensive gun deaths, giving a national average of 6.3 gun deaths per 100k. Despite politically motivated claims to the contrary, the homicide etc. number only rose 7% in 2021. Most people buy guns for defensive use. That only resulted in 1,275 gun deaths, or 2.8% of the total.
The comments for the four largest population states are very interesting. They make up a third of the US population.
For Texas, what changed this year was enacting permitless carrying. There are five actions needed to improve: Require background checks for all gun sales; Enact an extreme risk protection order law Repeal permitless carry laws; Enact anti-gun trafficking laws; and Strengthen protections for victims of domestic violence and hate crimes.
For California, this year the budget made a $227 million investment in community violence intervention programs. It passed legislation requiring courts to more proactively ensure that people subject to domestic violence protective orders relinquish their firearms. Also, prohibited people subject to extreme risk protection orders from accessing ghost gun components. To improve, California can: Continue to increase investment in community violence intervention; Strengthen laws regulating ghost fun’s and Enact a gun industry accountability law.
For Florida, changes this year were: an 8% increase in the gun death rate; and passed no significant gun safety legislation. To improve: Require background checks for all gun sales Invest in community violence intervention programs; and Strengthen protections for victims of domestic violence.
For New York, changes this year were: Banned the possession, manufacture, or sale of ghost guns; Passed legislation allowing the gun industry to be held liable for irresponsible behavior; and Strengthened investments in community violence intervention programs. To improve, they can continue to strengthen investments in community violence intervention programs.
