Friday, January 21, 2011

More Guns = More Gun Deaths, Duh!

I recently wandered through the Violence Policy Center's web site and it is an eye opener when it comes to gun-related violence.  I support the Second Amendment but I also feel there are way too many guns floating around our country.  I have been a gun owner in the past, so if any NRA folks read this and flame me, get over it!

I am a strong advocate of gun control.  Here's why:

In states where gun ownership is lowest, gun deaths are lowest.  Pretty easy equation and yet too many folks just can't make this connection, so here is a simple chart to give you the idea in sound figures.



States with the Five Highest Gun Death Rates
States with the Five Lowest Gun Death Rates
Rank
State
Household Gun Ownership Gun Death Rate per 100,000 Rank State Household Gun Ownership Gun Death Rate per 100,000
1 Louisiana 45.6 percent 19.87 50 Hawaii 9.7 percent 2.82
2 Mississippi 54.3 percent 18.32 49 Rhode Island 13.3 percent 3.51
3 Alaska 60.6 percent 17.62 48 Massachusetts 12.8 percent 3.63
4 Alabama 57.2 percent 17.55 47 Connecticut 16.2 percent 4.27
5 Nevada 31.5 percent 16.21 46 New York 18.1 percent 5.07

Note from the VPC: The VPC defined states with "weak" gun laws as those that add little or nothing to federal restrictions and have permissive laws governing the open or concealed carrying of firearms in public. States with "strong" gun laws were defined as those that add significant state regulation in addition to federal law, such as restricting access to particularly hazardous types of firearms (for example, assault weapons), setting minimum safety standards for firearms and/or requiring a permit to purchase a firearm, and restrictive laws governing the open and concealed carrying of firearms in public. State gun ownership rates were obtained from the September 2005 Pediatrics article “Prevalence of Household Firearms and Firearm-Storage Practices in the 50 States and the District of Columbia: Findings From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002,” which is the most up-to-date, comprehensive source for state gun ownership rates.
So now, let's see...less guns means less death, sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

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