California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) used the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday to attack Republicans over gun control, though violent crime and homicides have increased dramatically in the Golden State in recent years.
Newsom reacted after a shooting in which an armed 18-year-old murdered 19 children and two adults after infiltrating the school. The perpetrator was killed by an armed Border Patrol agent who happened to be nearby and rushed into the school.
Newsom tweeted:
Despite Newsom’s claims, violent crime is up in much of the state, including homicide. The Associated Press reported last year:
Homicides in California jumped 31% last year, making it the deadliest year since 2007, and Black people accounted for nearly one-third of all victims as the nation’s most populous state struggled with the coronavirus pandemic and concerns over racial injustice, according to reports released Thursday.
The 2,202 homicides last year were 523 more than in 2019, while the rate increased by a similar margin — from 4.2 to 5.5 homicides per 100,000 people.
That’s the most slayings since 2,258 people were killed in 2007, and the rate is the highest since 2008. Black people make up 6.5% of California’s population but accounted for 31% of all victims last year. Hispanic people accounted for 45%, while 16% were white.
There have also been several mass shootings in California despite the state’s strict gun control laws, backed by Newsom.
Some of California’s gun control laws have also been unconstitutional. Earlier this month, the liberal Ninth Circuit struck down a ban on the sale of semiautomatic rifles — those that reload one bullet after one fire — to those between 18-20.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.