It offers year-over-year firearms mortality trend analyses by sex, age, race, and ethnicity, information on relationship and homicide circumstance, and crime gun trace data. It also offers historical data and examples of killings and other serious crimes committed by Texas concealed handgun permit holders. Included in the report are the personal stories of Texas residents impacted by lethal gun violence who are now advocates in support of gun violence prevention.

Nicole Golden, Executive Director of Texas Gun Sense states, “The majority of Texans are with us when we say Texas urgently needs lawmakers to pass common sense gun violence solutions: 85 percent of Texans support raising the age to purchase an AR-15 style assault rifle from 18 to 21, 89 percent of Texans support background checks for all gun buyers (including private sales), and 88 percent support extreme risk protection orders (‘red flag laws’). This strong public support, paired with this in-depth report, bolsters our advocacy for a safer Texas.”

Josh Sugarmann, Executive Director of the Violence Policy Center, states, “Effective public policy relies on comprehensive, reliable data not only to define public health threats but also identify effective solutions. This study is one more tool for advocates, organizations, and policymakers working to reduce gun violence in Texas.”

Key study findings include the following.

Overall Gun Death

In 2022, 4,515 Texas lives were taken by guns in suicides (2,644), homicides (1,826), and unintentional deaths (45). (In addition, 41 lives were deaths of undetermined intent and 74 lives were taken in legal intervention deaths involving law enforcement.) That year, guns were used in 60.5 percent (2,644 of 4,368) of all suicides and 80.1 percent (1,826 of 2,281) of all homicides. Rates of both suicides and homicides due to firearms have increased in Texas over the last two decades. While rates of firearm suicide have increased steadily, more drastic increases have been seen in firearm homicide rates, more than doubling between 2011 and 2021: from 3.1 per 100,000 to 6.6 per 100,000 in 2021, and then decreasing to 6.1 per 100,000 in 2022. For both suicides and homicides, the majority of victims were male.

Suicide

• From 2016 to 2022, firearm suicide rates increased statewide, with rates increasing more drastically in rural areas of the state compared to urban areas ─ jumping from 9.4 per 100,00 in 2016 to 13.7 per 100,000 in 2022. In comparison, rates in urban areas during this same time frame increased from 7.0 per 100,000 to 8.1 per 100,000.

• Texas young adults ages 18 to 24 had the highest rates of firearm suicide compared to younger Texans. Rates in this age group increased from 8.4 per 100,000 in 2018 to 12.3 per 100,000 in 2021, before decreasing slightly to 11.7 per 100,000 in 2022.

• Suicide by firearm varies by race and ethnicity in the state. The white, non-Hispanic population in Texas had the highest rate of firearm suicide (14.1 per 100,000) in 2022. And while lower, rates in the Black, non-Hispanic population increased from 4.1 per 100,000 in 2018 to 6.0 per 100,000 in 2022. The rate for Hispanics increased from 3.3 per 100,000 in 2018 to 4.0 per 100,000 in 2022. Rates decreased in the Asian, non-Hispanic population, from 3.5 per 100,000 in 2018 to 2.0 per 100,000 in 2022.

Homicide

• The percentage of homicides due to firearms has increased over the past two decades, from 62.6 percent in 2002 to 80.1 percent in 2022, and the firearm homicide rate has been increasing in both rural and urban areas.

• Firearm homicide rates more than doubled between 2011 and 2021, from 3.1 per 100,000 to 6.6 per 100,000, before decreasing slightly to 6.1 per 100,000 in 2022.

• For Black, non-Hispanic Texans, between 2018 and 2021 the firearm homicide rate increased from 13.0 per 100,000 to 22.1 per 100,000, before decreasing slightly to 19.1 per 100,000 in 2022. Although comprising only 12.5 percent of the Texas population, more than 41 percent of all firearm homicide victims were Black, non-Hispanic.

• For Hispanic Texans, the firearm homicide rate increased from 3.5 per 100,000 to 5.5 per 100,000 between 2018 and 2022.

• In 2022, for homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, 65.1 percent of Texas homicide victims were killed by someone they knew. For Texas homicides that year in which the circumstances were known, 85.8 percent were not related to the commission of any other felony.

Trace Data

• The majority of firearms recovered in Texas originated in Texas (86.4 percent) and handguns were the most common type of firearm recovered in the state and traced (79.6 percent were pistols and 5.3 percent were revolvers).

Click for a PDF of the full study: https://www.vpc.org/studies/TX2025.pdf.