California Gov. Gavin Newsom Claims More Than 400 ‘Mass Shootings’ in U.S. This Year

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) claimed Sunday that there have been over 400 “mass shootings” in the United States thus far in 2023.

His claim was based on Gun Violence Archive’s misleading “mass shooting” data, as reported by ABC News. (Breitbart News pointed out that Forbes used the same misleading data, claiming over 400 “mass shootings” in the United States at this point in 2023 as well.)

Newsom tweeted:

Newsom used the announcement of the misleading information as an opportunity to push his proposed 28th Amendment again, an amendment to nationally restrict the exercise of the Second Amendment in a manner similar to the state-level restrictions in California.

The Associated Press reported that Newsom’s amendment, which would be the twenty-eighth amendment, would institute a waiting period on firearm purchases, ban firearms which Democrats label “assault weapons,” and secure universal background checks.

California already has all the gun controls Newsom is proposing in his amendment, yet the state led the nation in “active shooter incidents” in 2021.

The data foundational to Newsom’s “mass shooting” claims, and those of ABC News as well, are drawn from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA). The GVA’s threshold for a “mass shooting” departs from the standard definition, broadening the category to include numerous other shootings not previously counted as “mass shootings.”

Therefore, while GVA figures communicate over 400 “mass shootings” at this point in 2023, the database maintained by the Associated Press / Northeastern University / USA Today–a database which still relies on the standard “mass shooting” definition–reported only 29 firearm-based mass killings through July 4 of this year.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010. and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.