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California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom contended that restrictive firearm laws in his state save lives and should be replicated in conservative states.
Newsom asserted in a social media video last week that decades of “gun safety laws” led to a lower “gun homicide rate” in California relative to the national average. He said that the “refusal” of red states to pass similar laws has “led to catastrophic impacts” with respect to crime.
“Let’s put it this way. If every state in America had California’s gun death rate over the past decade, 140,000 Americans would be alive today,” Newsom contended in the video. “That’s the cost of fealty to the ideological agenda by the National Rifle Association.”
Newsom has repeatedly made such assertions about firearm laws in California. His office claimed last month that the state is ranked first for “gun safety nationwide” while noting that both their “gun deaths and gun ownership” rates are some of the lowest in the nation.
Democratic officials often make such claims about restrictive firearm laws, even as there are many states with robust Second Amendment protections that also have low gun death rates.
One analysis published last year by PolitiFact, a fact-checking service which leans leftward, acknowledged that Nebraska, North Dakota, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont have low homicide levels as well as less restrictive firearm laws, while Illinois and Maryland, both of which have restrictive laws, have elevated homicide levels.
PolitiFact noted that other variables, such as culture and demographics, poverty levels, healthcare resources, and gang violence, also impact gun deaths in a state.
California indeed heavily limits firearm ownership even for law-abiding citizens. Beyond restrictions on concealed carry, the state recently enacted a new 11% excise tax on the gross receipts of firearms, firearm precursors, and ammunition.
