Weak Gun Laws: Deaths Hit New High In Texas

HOUSTON, (IANS) – The death toll due to gun violence has reached a new high in Texas, where state lawmakers have kept weakening gun regulations in the past three decades, a media report said.

There were 15 deaths by firearms per 100,000 people in Texas in 2021, a 50 percent jump from 1999 when there were on average 10 fatalities by firearms per 100,000 people, The Texas Tribune said on May 10, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Over the same period, firearm-related homicides rose 66 percent and suicides involving firearms rose 40 percent in the Lone Star state, said the report.

The last time firearm deaths in the state, including suicides, homicides, and accidents, exceeded 15 per 100,000 people was in 1994.

As the number of gun-relation deaths continues rising, Republican-controlled Texas legislation has approved more than 100 bills that have loosened gun restrictions since 2000, according to data compiled by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.

The state blocks campus “zero tolerance” policies that expel gun-carrying students, bans hotels from restricting handguns, and allows Texans to carry handguns without a license or training.

Eight people were killed, including a young Indian American, and seven others injured after a shooting at an outlet mall near Dallas on May 6, making it the second deadliest mass shooting in the US this year.