By the Numbers: Guns, Gun Sales and Crime in Santa Clara County

California may have the strictest gun laws in the nation, but the number of gun sales and gun-related crimes are on the rise—in Santa Clara Valley and beyond. Here’s a rundown of some key statistics about guns in Silicon Valley.

The growth rate of gun sales from 2001 to 2015 in Santa Clara County, with an average of 24,000 guns sold per year. Forty-eight percent of guns sold were long guns and 52 percent of guns sold were handguns. Sacramento has seen a 406 percent growth of gun sales between 2001 to 2015, the highest rate in California.

Number of guns legally sold in California in 2016. It has decreased to 882,585 in 2017 as the number of long gun sales decreased from 758,678 to 359,601.

The number of offenses involving guns among K-12 students from 2015 to 2016. Eighty-six percent of these incidents resulted in a suspension, 9 percent in an expulsion and 5 percent in disciplinary action.

Percentage of assaults and homicides that resulted in deaths from firearm injuries from 2007 to 2016 in Santa Clara County. In that same period, 59 percent of suicides were gun-related. In California, 71 percent of homicides from 2010 to 2015 involved a firearm.

The annual economic cost of firearm injuries incurred from deaths, hospitalizations and emergency department visits in Santa Clara County.

The number of aggravated assaults with a firearm in San Jose in 2016, an increase of 206 incidences from 2006. In California, there were 101,872 aggravated assaults with a firearm from 2010 to 2015.

Source: Santa Clara County Department of Public Health

Nicholas Chan is a journalist who covers politics, culture and current events in Silicon Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @nicholaschanhk.

17 Comments

  1. how about some information by the numbers regarding illegal immigration and crime, released felons and crime and the costs associated with stupid policies and ideas hoisted on CA taxpayers by incompetent and corrupt one party politicians. Legal and responsible gun owners are not the problem.

    • Responsible gun owners are the ones committing these massacres. They were responsible until they weren’t anymore.

        • 100 million?!? Lmao. Wrong.

          You’re basically inferring that the victims of gun violence in this country aren’t important.

      • “Responsible gun owners are the ones committing these massacres.”

        This is a bad a Trump saying “Mexicans blah blah”. Be specific with your words.

        I will correct you direclty. A criminal is responsible. Saying “gun owners” is simply untrue. You are implying that millions of innocent well meaning gun owners caused this incident. Responsible gun owners act responsibly and obey the law. He was a felon before he even entered the festival.

        Open your heart and mind to new ideas.

  2. Overlay that with population increase (due almost entirely to immigration) and see how they look. Not to mention the HUGE purchase of long guns in 2017. Overlay those purchases with some politician threatening to ban them and i am sure there is a corollary.
    Also, do the numbers for Bicycles now and compare those to guns (minus suicides using either) and let’s see just how dangerous bikes are.

  3. By the numbers:

    “Nearly 8,000 intersection-related traffic collisions took place in San Jose from 2013 to 2017, leaving 103 people dead and another 10,118 wounded.” https://www.sanjoseinside.com/2019/07/16/new-study-identifies-san-joses-most-dangerous-intersections/

    Compared to the numbers of 108+36+431= 575 for gun related issues, it seems that the focus on traffic safety issues should be a higher priority.

    A ban on bicycle sales should be considered, or as a compromise, at minimum universal background check on all bicycle sales. Just to make sure bicycles don’t get into the hands of those that society deems shouldn’t have one and jeopardize all of our safety.

  4. That does it I’m turning in my bike before it kills some. Please note most gun sale went up between 2009 and 2016, the Obama years. 2016 till now big drop in gun sales. If you want gun sales to go down don’t elect gun grabbing Democrats, their scary!

  5. What about basketballs? If you see kids hanging around the park with a basketball, you know somebody’s car is going to get boosted, Amazon package stolen, or house broken into. I’m not saying the basketball is being used as a tool to commit the crime. It’s just an excuse to hang out and plan mischief. Put ’em in reform schools where they belong.

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