Texas Fast Stats: Guns and Gun Violence Facts

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Texas Firearm Deaths

  • There were more than 4,000 gun-related deaths in Texas in 2020.
  • In 2019, 61% of all Texas suicides were by firearm. 
  • In 2019, nearly 73% of veteran suicides in Texas were by firearm according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  • In 2020, 183 women in Texas were killed by a male intimate partner—67% of those murders were by firearm.
  • Women in Texas are 24% more likely to be murdered with a gun than women in other states.
  • In 2019, at least 32 Texan children ages 0-17 died in unintentional shootings.

Cost

  • Gun violence in Texas costs $16.6 billion per year.

Lost and Stolen Guns

  • The number of guns reported stolen in the Lone Star State nearly doubled between 2007 and 2016, from at least 13,225 to at least 26,004, according to the National Crime Information Center, an FBI database used to track stolen property.  Overall, at least 186,548 firearms were reported stolen in Texas over that 10-year period, more than any other state in the nation.  Any statistics on the number of guns reported stolen are likely undercounted.  Texas does not mandate the reporting of missing weapons to police.
  • Texas leads the nation in the number of guns that are lost or stolen each year from licensed dealers.

Gun Ownership in Texas

  • As of the end of 2021, nearly 1.7 million people have a state-regulated license to carry in Texas.
  • More than 8,400 Texas licenses to carry a handgun were denied, suspended, or revoked in 2021.
  • As of December 2021, there were more than 8,600 federally regulated licensed gun dealers in Texas. 
  • It is estimated that at least 37% of Texans own guns. 

Illegal Export of Firearms

  • Forty-one percent of crime guns recovered in Mexico from 2009-2014 originated in Texas.

Despite being home to more than 4,000 gun deaths per year and mass shootings such as Sutherland Springs Church, El Paso Walmart, Midland-Odessa, and Santa Fe High School, Texas has actually made access to firearms easier. During the last legislative interim, the Governor refused to call a special legislative session to pass common-sense laws to address gun violence prevention, and then during the 87th session, he signed HB 1927 into law, removing the safety net of licensing and training to carry a handgun in the state. See the Texas Gun Sense legislative analysis reports for more information.

March 2022