As Republican elected officials and candidates continue to make false claims about Democrats’ record on crime and public safety, the Center for American Progress Action Fund is setting the record straight about the true cause of increases in violent crime: access to guns. This series of fact sheets shows how increases in crime are directly linked to dangerous gun laws passed by Republicans.
Amid a 20 percent surge in gun deaths across North Carolina from 2016 to 2020, Ted Budd made more than $4 million by flooding the state with guns.
Even after several high-profile mass shootings in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott continues to weaken the state's gun crime laws; gun deaths have surged 44 percent during his time in office.
Violent crime in Minnesota is increasingly fueled by guns, with the share of murders committed with a firearm increasing 27 percent and statewide gun sales surging a stunning 180 percent in the past decade.
Violent crime in Oregon is increasingly fueled by gun violence, with the share of murders committed with a gun in Portland surging 25 percent in recent years. Christine Drazan and Betsy Johnson would only make things worse.
MAGA Republicans in Florida have driven a massive surge in gun-related violence, with gun crime increasing 20 percent since Gov. DeSantis took office.
Pennsylvania’s violence problem is increasingly a gun violence problem: While homicides have decreased over the past decade, the share due to guns has increased by 13 percent. MAGA Republicans would make it worse.
Brian Kemp made dangerous gun laws a key part of his campaign for governor in 2018—and since taking office, he has doubled down on these policies: Under Kemp’s watch, the number of homicides in Georgia has surged a stunning 23 percent.
Donald Trump has blamed Gov. Steve Sisolak for what he calls a “cesspool of crime” in Nevada, but it's his fellow Republican Joe Lombardo who oversaw a record spike in murders while serving as Clark County sheriff.
Gov. Tony Evers’ veto of MAGA Republican laws has prevented an even more severe rise in gun violence.
Since the Tucson mass shooting, Arizona Republicans have passed more than a dozen dangerous gun laws; now, Arizonans are paying with their lives.