Gun-related incidents accounted for 45,222 fatalities in the United States in 2020. This figure included suicides, homicides, accidents, and other incidents where a death was caused by gunfire. Based on the size of the U.S. population, in 2020 the gun death rate in the U.S. was 13.7 deaths per 100,000 population. On a regional basis, the Southeast had the highest regional gun death rate, while New England had the lowest.  Unsurprisingly, the ten U.S states rated by the Giffords Law Center as having the weakest gun control laws had a collective gun death rate that was substantially higher than the national average. Conversely, the ten states with the strongest gun control laws had a collective gun death rate in 2020 that was almost 39% below the national average.  Among the ten states with the strongest gun control laws, only Illinois had a gun death rate that was higher than the national average in 2020. Moreover, six of the ten states in this group had a gun death rate that was more than 50% below the national average.  Further examination of mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics provides the following details about gun death rates in strong gun control states.

Gun Death Rates in Strong Gun Control States

**	State	Deaths	Population	Death Rate*
1	California	3,449	39,368,078	8.8
2	New Jersey	443	8,882,371	5.0
3	Connecticut	219	3,557,006	6.2
4	Hawaii	50	1,407,006	3.6
5	Massachusetts	268	6,893,574	3.9
6	New York	1,052	19,336,776	5.4
7	Maryland	803	6,055,802	13.3
8	Illinois	1,745	12,587,530	13.9
9	Rhode Island	54	1,057,125	5.1
10	Washington	864	7,693,612	11.2
	Sub-total	8,947	106,838,880	8.4
	U.S.	45,222	329,484,123	13.7

(**) status of gun control laws ranked strongest to weakest
(*) number of gun-related 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 October 3, 2022