The recent mass shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, highlight the threat gun violence poses to public safety in the United States. And according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the problem is getting worse.

A total of 45,222 people were killed by a firearm in the United States in 2020, the most recent year of available data – up from about 40,000 in 2019, and a 25% increase from 2015. Only three states – Hawaii, New Jersey, and Alaska – reported a decline in deaths resulting from a firearm injury between 2015 and 2020.

In Texas, firearm deaths have climbed by 30.0% from 2015 to 2020 – the 14th largest increase among states. According to the CDC, a total of 4,164 people died from a firearm injury in the state in 2020, up from 3,203 in 2015.

The current firearm mortality rate in Texas, meanwhile, ranks as the 25th lowest among states, at 14.2 deaths for every 100,000 people

Gun sales in the state, measured using FBI firearm background check data as a proxy, also increased over the same period. There were an estimated 2,325,281 gun sales in Texas in 2020, up from 1,574,266 in 2015. The 47.7% increase in sales was the 25th smallest among states.

Rank	State	Change in gun deaths, 2015-2020	Firearm deaths per 100,000 people, 2020	Total firearm deaths, 2020	Firearm background checks, 2020
1	Kansas	49.7%	16.9	494	249,589
2	Illinois	43.0%	14.1	1745	7,455,065
3	Iowa	42.1%	11.2	351	270,614
4	Mississippi	38.9%	28.6	818	366,829
5	Tennessee	37.0%	21.3	1473	984,760
6	Indiana	37.0%	17.3	1159	1,935,587
7	Wyoming	36.3%	25.9	154	91,384
8	South Carolina	33.1%	22	1131	530,930
9	North Carolina	31.8%	16	1699	890,284
10	Colorado	31.5%	15.4	922	680,507
11	Georgia	31.0%	17.7	1897	904,035
12	Arizona	30.4%	16.7	1265	665,458
13	Missouri	30.3%	23.9	1426	708,184
14	Texas	30.0%	14.2	4164	2,325,281
15	Kentucky	30.0%	20.1	902	3,330,462
16	Idaho	30.0%	17.6	321	281,284
17	Arkansas	29.4%	22.6	673	324,741
18	Ohio	26.3%	15.2	1764	976,751
19	Massachusetts	25.8%	3.7	268	262,583
20	Minnesota	25.1%	8.9	513	958,391
21	South Dakota	25.0%	13.6	120	115,448
22	Michigan	24.9%	14.6	1454	1,068,511
23	Louisiana	24.3%	26.3	1183	430,537
24	Virginia	24.1%	13.4	1174	823,513
25	New York	23.9%	5.3	1052	507,940
26	New Mexico	22.8%	22.7	479	206,252
27	Nevada	22.6%	17	547	219,349
28	Oregon	21.8%	13	592	516,096
29	Delaware	20.5%	14.4	135	77,057
30	Washington	20.3%	10.9	864	781,471
31	Alabama	19.1%	23.6	1141	1,085,475
32	Florida	18.8%	13.7	3041	1,912,204
33	Pennsylvania	18.0%	13.6	1752	1,452,921
34	Oklahoma	17.0%	20.7	826	470,286
35	Wisconsin	17.0%	12.2	717	731,618
36	West Virginia	16.9%	18.1	325	265,705
37	Utah	16.9%	13.6	429	1,216,773
38	Nebraska	16.6%	10.1	197	104,511
39	Montana	16.1%	20.9	238	172,695
40	Connecticut	15.9%	6	219	219,227
41	Maryland	13.4%	13.5	803	302,563
42	California	11.4%	8.5	3449	1,601,054
43	North Dakota	8.7%	13.8	100	85,465
44	Vermont	8.6%	11.6	76	57,965
45	Maine	6.3%	10.4	153	137,149
46	Rhode Island	5.9%	5.1	54	51,369
47	New Hampshire	5.8%	8.9	128	174,662
48	Alaska	-1.1%	23.5	175	98,952
49	New Jersey	-6.7%	5	443	177,901
50	Hawaii	-9.1%	3.4	50	20,102

 

 

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