Texas’ complex relationship with firearms: Leading America in gun sales, but with a declining gun ownership rate – By Caroline Covington (Texas Tribune) / July 28, 2022
We examine decades of data on gun ownership and gun violence to show trends across the state. Some of them might surprise you.
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This story was published in partnership with The Trace, which contributed data analysis. The Trace is a nonprofit newsroom focused on covering the nation’s gun violence crisis, and you can sign up for its newsletters here.
Background checks for gun purchases in Texas rose during the weeks after the mass shooting in Uvalde that left 19 children and two teachers dead, according to the latest count from the federal government. It wasn’t the largest jump in background checks so far this year, but it’s part of a pattern that has followed most mass shootings for over a decade.
Background checks for guns rose an average of almost 10% following the El Paso, Santa Fe and Sutherland Springs mass shootings. But those events and their aftermath only provided a snapshot of the full, complicated picture of Texans’ relationship with guns and gun violence.
More guns were purchased in Texas during the pandemic than at almost any time so far this century, but the rate of ownership has been declining for years because Texas’ population growth is outpacing the increase in gun purchases.
When it comes to gun violence, mass shootings are only part of the problem. Thousands of Texans die every year from gun-related deaths not tied to those events.
CONTINUE > https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/28/texas-gun-stats/
