Fact check: Gavin Newsom says California gun deaths dropped after state passed gun laws

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been an outspoken supporter of California’s strict gun control laws.

At a press conference with legislative leaders Wednesday, he announced a package of gun control bills that he said will be fast-tracked through the Legislature so that he can sign them next month. He also offered a fiery criticism of federal judges, whom he called extremists, that pose a threat to California’s laws.

A reporter asked Newsom why he supports more gun control bills when California, which already has the strictest laws in the country, still suffers from mass shootings.

Claim: “It’s not opinion, it’s not conjecture, this is just stubborn fact,” Newsom said in response. “From 1993 to 2017, these are exact numbers, California’s gun murder rate dropped 55%, gun death rate dropped 62%, outperforming the rest of the nation because of our gun safety laws. We don’t think they work, we know they work.”

Rating: Mostly True

Details: Asked about the source of the data, Gov. Newsom’s office cited two gun control groups — Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence and Brady United Against Gun Violence - California.

The Giffords campaign, in a 2019 memo, used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to report that gun homicides fell by 62% from 1993 to 2017.

Meanwhile, the Brady campaign issued a report, also in 2019, that found the firearm death rate had dropped 55% in the same time span. Brady did not attribute a source for that data, however that information also can be obtained from the CDC.

Gov. Newsom had the right numbers, but he mixed them up in his remarks. California’s gun homicide rate dropped by 62%, while the overall gun death rate dropped 55%.

It’s also true that this precipitous drop in gun deaths did follow the passage of a number of gun control laws in California.

This story was originally published May 27, 2022 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Fact check: Gavin Newsom says California gun deaths dropped after state passed gun laws."