The table below lists the ten U.S states with the strongest gun control laws (as of 5/14/22) according to research done by the Giffords Law Center. Correlating this list with homicide statistics from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, we found that in 2020 homicide rates were materially lower in 8 of the 10 states with the strictest gun control laws. Collectively, the ten states with the strongest gun control laws registered a homicide rate of 5.9 deaths per 100,000 population, more than 21% lower than the national homicide rate in 2020.

Visit the Giffords Law Center for more information on their research into gun control laws and for their complete ranking of U.S. states by the strength of their respective gun laws.

Homicide Rates in States with the Strongest Gun Control Laws

**	State	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
1	California	2,368	39,368,078	6.0
2	New Jersey	362	8,882,371	4.1
3	Connecticut	152	3,557,006	4.3
4	Hawaii	46	1,407,006	3.3
5	Massachusetts	183	6,893,574	2.7
6	New York	875	19,336,776	4.5
7	Maryland	649	6,055,802	10.7
8	Illinois	1,353	12,587,530	10.7
9	Rhode Island	29	1,057,125	2.7
10	Washington	322	7,693,612	4.2
	Sub-total	6,339	106,838,880	5.9
	U.S.	24,576	329,484,123	7.5

(**) status of gun control laws ranked strongest to weakest
(*) number of homicide deaths per 100,000 population

Report Period: 2020

Source: CDC Wonder. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2020 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released in 2021. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2020, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed on May 14, 2022