Are Texas Gun Deaths Higher Than California? Abbott, Newsom In New Battle

Two governors representing opposite political parties clashed on Sunday regarding gun violence data.

A mass shooting that killed eight at a mall in Allen, Texas, on Saturday has catapulted the discussion of federal and statewide gun laws back into the spotlight. As of Monday, the United States has faced more than 200 mass shootings so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which identifies a mass shooting as when four or more victims are shot or killed. Gun control is often a political issue, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, made a statement about California's gun deaths that had California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, quick to turn the blame back on Texas.

Abbott addressed his stance on gun control and gun violence in an interview on Sunday with Fox News, and his thoughts spurred a reaction from Newsom, a Democrat.

In the interview, Abbott touted "easy solutions" to address gun violence, such as Texas pursuing legislation to increase penalties for criminals possessing a firearm. Abbott then said that gun violence is on the rise in states that implement strict gun laws as well, in which he points the finger at California.

Abbott referred to the Monterey Park mass shooting that killed 11 people in California in January and said the "largest number of victims" from gun violence this year was in California, which implements "very tough" gun laws.

Newsom was quick to dispute the statement.

"Here is a clip in which @GregAbbott_TX: 1) Conveniently leaves out the fact that Texas' gun death rate is 73% higher than CA's. 2) Accidentally points to exactly why we need federal gun safety laws," Newsom tweeted on Sunday.

A member of Newsom's press team told Newsweek that for 2021, Texas had a 73.3 percent higher gun death rate than California.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Texas had almost double the firearm mortality rate compared to California in 2021, the most recent year data was available. The graph shows that in 2021, California had 3,576 firearm-related deaths out of its 39 million residents .and Texas had 4,613 firearm-related deaths out of its 29 million residents.

The data showed a similar trend for 2020, the most recent data available from WISQARS, an online tool used by the CDC that reveals the intent behind fatal injury from firearm-related deaths, such as homicide or death by suicide.

In 2020, Texas had a higher number of firearm deaths than California for each method of intent except for legal intervention.

The 2020 data showed that out of 4,164 deaths from firearms in Texas, 54 were unintentional, 2,287 were deaths by suicide, 1,734 were homicide, 51 were legal intervention and 38 had an "undetermined intent". The same year in California showed there were 3,449 gun-related deaths in 2020, with 39 being unintentional, 1,552 being suicide, 1,732 being homicide, 99 being legal intervention and 27 being of an "undetermined intent".