States with stricter gun control laws experienced six of the ten deadliest shootings since 2020. California, which has the highest rating awarded by NGOs specializing in this area, was the scene of most of them (3) and has accumulated the highest number of fatalities (25) in this period of time.
In addition, New York (rated A-), Illinois (A-) and Colorado (B) have all suffered from the scourge of shooters who have carried out multiple gun attacks. All four are led by Democratic governors. Georgia, also under Democratic legislation, received a much lower grade (F). In total, 60 people lost their lives to these attacks since 2020.
60 killed in Democratic states
The last three states with the highest number of fatalities have Republican governments and received very low grades: Texas (F), Indiana (D-) and Alabama (F). Between the three of them, there were 36 deaths from three shootings over the last two years.
The ratings are given by the Giffords Law Center, an NGO that tracks and analyzes state gun control legislation. California leads the ranking with a rule that bans "high capacity" firearms containing more than 10 rounds of ammunition and warns residents who were arrested without charges being filed against them that they may not be able to obtain a license to possess a firearm, among other things. Both New York and Illinois received an "A-" on their gun laws according to Giffords. Both states restrict the carrying of firearms and prohibit certain types of weapons.
Top 10 deadliest assaults with firearms
By death toll, Texas was the scene of the deadliest crime of all. On May 24, 2022, a former Robb Elementary School student murdered 21 people, 19 of them were children. Colorado is next (an attack at a Boulder grocery store in March 2021), followed by New York (a racially motivated shooting in May 2022 at a Buffalo grocery store). Both had attacks that killed 10 victims.
California could have the second position after the shooting at a ballroom dance club last Sunday, as some media outlets are reporting about 11 deaths. However, the police report states there were nine. The same number of deaths was caused by a worker, from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation authority who killed his coworkers, also in the Golden State in May 2021.
Texas, the shooting with most fatalities
In Indiana, a FedEx worker shot several of his former co-workers, killing eight of them in April of the same year. He also murdered eight people, mostly women, one man at a massage parlor in Atlanta, Georgia, in March 2021.
In September 2020, there was a shooting in California that left seven people dead after a person who remains unidentified shot at a marijuana plantation home. The same number of people were also killed at the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois last year. Finally, Alabama lost seven people to a shooting at the local Seven Deadly Sins club at the hands of two fellow members in June 2020.
