As talks on gun reform ramped up in the United States following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas which left 19 children and two adults dead, Texas Governor Greg Abbott reverted to an argument made by many in his party.
Stricter, tighter gun reform won't stifle gun violence. He used the cities of Los Angeles, New York and Chicago - places perceived to have some of the strictest laws - as examples.
“We need to realise that people who think that, well, maybe if we could just implement tougher gun laws, it’s going to solve it, Chicago and LA and New York disprove that thesis," Mr Abbott said a day after the Texas school shooting on 25 May.
A day later, Texas senator Ted Cruz also voiced the claim, walking away from a journalist who asked the Republican whether gun reform is needed in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting. “That doesn’t work,” Mr Cruz he said amid the conversation.
However, these claims fail to tell the full story.
What does California have that others don't?
In the United States, federal law provides the basis for firearm regulation, but it's the states and cities that can tighten these restrictions further. California is the state perceived by many to be the strictest. The cities of Chicago and New York are often grouped up there too.
Gun laws in the US vary widely from state to state. Some have relatively strict licencing, while others, including Arizona and Nevada, allow 'open carry' which means the firearm can be publicly visible.
California's laws are the most comprehensive. All firearm sales must be done through a dealer, require a safety certificate and proof of residency - unless you're in the military.
Much like a car, all sales and transfers must be registered. The California Department of Justice requires serial numbers and identification details related to the parties, including fingerprints, to be recorded.
There's also a ten-day waiting period for all purchases, transfers and private sales, with background checks required, even for private sales. A so-called "red flag law" exists, too, which allows the police or a family member to request a year-long confiscation of firearms for those who pose a threat to themselves or others.
It's also illegal to possess, import, or purchase assault weapons in the state. Current talks in Congress have shut down the possibility of imposing this federally or enacting a wider "comprehensive" background-check system for gun buyers.
A 10-year ban on certain semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns, commonly called assault weapons, was signed into law by then-president Bill Clinton in 1994 but expired and was not renewed under former president George W Bush in 2004.
There are also some "loose" areas in the state's gun licencing laws. While there is a safety certificate that expires and requires renewal, ongoing possession of a firearm does not require a licence or permit.
New York and California are largely comparable.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a 10-bill package on Monday intended to strengthen the state's gun laws and protect people from gun violence by prohibiting the sale of semiautomatic weapons to those under 21 and banning most body armour sales for civilians.
The bills follow a string of mass shootings,
The state of Illinois, where Chicago is situated, has a shooting death rate of 14.1 per 100,000, which still falls below the national average of 15.1 deaths per 100,000, according to 2020 figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP).
The state falls short of a ban on assault weapons, with the City of Chicago and Cook County separately imposing their own ban on possession.
While Republicans have used Illinois as an example of the 'toughest state on gun laws', the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which tracks gun laws nationwide, see it differently.
The Center, which has given all states a score based on their gun laws, puts California as the top-ranking state per capita, with Chicago ranked in eighth place. New York is sixth.
The modern American gun debate started in 1967 when 30 protesting members of the Black Panther Party marched into the California Capitol with loaded firearms. At the time, there were few restrictions on carrying loaded weapons in public.
Two members of the Black Panther Party are met on the steps of the California State Capitol in Sacramento, 2 May, 1967, by police who tell them they'll be allowed to keep their weapons as long as they cause no trouble and do not disturb the peace. Credit: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive
In the years since, California’s progressive politicians have layered on restrictions.
In contrast, Mississippi has the worst gun death rate in the US, with the CDCP saying the state records 28.6 deaths people per 100,000 people.
In the state, there is no requirement for a permit or registration, no ban on assault weapons, no license is required, there are no background checks for private sales, no "red flag" law, no permit is required to openly carry a firearm, unlike New York. California partially covers this.
Why do some people say California's gun laws aren't working?
In California, it would be correct to say a mass shooting occurs every eight days, according to the independent research group Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an attack that injures or kills four or more people.
But in the most populous state, with a population approaching 40 million people, Californians are 25 per cent less likely than the rest of the country to die in a mass shooting, according to the Public Policy Institute in California.
The state has the seventh-lowest firearm mortality rate in the country with a rate of 8.5 per 100,000 people. New York has a rate of 5.3 per 100,000.
CDCP's 2020 figures said Texas suffered 14.2 shooting deaths per 100,000 people.
In terms of actual gun deaths in 2020, Texas (population 29 million) recorded 4,164, California (population 39 million), 3,449, Illinois (population 12.8 million), 1745 and New York (population 19.5 million), 1052 .
"I don't believe anything that comes out of Governor Abbott's mouth. California is among the best practice states in the United States on gun control, and it shows the figures reflect that," said Bruce Wolpe, a senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre and former Democrat political staffer.
A graph from the Giffords Law Center tracking the correlation between restrictions on gun regulation compared to death rate per 100,000 people.
"The gun lobby and their own personal convictions have such a hold over what they say, that it is impossible to get responsible policies out of these men - and it's actually it's a disgrace," Mr Wolpe said.
On 2 June, the office of the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, released a statement saying California’s gun safety policies 'save lives'.
"California’s nation-leading record on gun safety provides a pathway for states seeking to rein in gun violence," it read.
