Florida Governor Ron DeSantis faced tough questions on ‘Meet the Press’ from journalist Kristen Welker about the rising gun deaths in Florida during his tenure.
DeSantis, a Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential primary, had been touting Florida’s low crime rates, but Welker brought up the firearm death statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC.
DeSantis’ Defense and Leadership Claims
Welker responded by pointing out that the CDC’s data showed an increase in the firearm mortality rate during DeSantis’ administration compared to that of his predecessor. DeSantis, in his defense, highlighted Florida’s overall low crime rate, which he attributed to his leadership, saying, “In Florida, our crime rate is at a 50-year low, and our violent crime rate is down 30 percent since I’ve been governor, so we’re handling it strong.”
DeSantis became flustered, attempting to attribute this increase to external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Welker clarified that she was specifically referring to the firearm mortality rate.
The statistics showed that the firearm mortality rate in Florida was 12.9 in 2018, the last year of DeSantis’s predecessor, Rick Scott’s term. When DeSantis took office in 2019, the rate decreased slightly to 12.7. However, it subsequently increased to 13.7 in 2020 and further to 14.1 in 2021.
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Advocates for Stricter Gun Laws
The exchange between DeSantis and Welker shed light on the troubling trend of increasing gun deaths in Florida. The situation was further compounded by a recent mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, which left at least 18 people dead and many others injured.
The suspect, Robert Card, had a history of mental illness, reigniting the debate about the role of mental health in gun violence. As gun violence continues to plague the United States, the nation grapples with the divisive issue of gun control.
Advocates for stricter gun laws argue that it could help mitigate the occurrence of mass shootings, while proponents of gun rights maintain that such measures infringe upon the Second Amendment of the Constitution.
The clash between these two perspectives highlights the urgent need for a comprehensive national conversation on gun violence and its solutions.
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