Ditto regarding accidental firearm fatality rates; at the high end, 5 pro gun states with lax gun laws had 4 times the accidental firearm death rates than the 5 states with stricter gun control (at the low end).
Wayno recently said in a speech that firearm accidents have been at record lows of late, yeah thanks to efforts of guncontrol, like child access prevention laws, safe storage like trigger locks.
Wash DC with it's trigger lock law & dissassembly rule went abou 10 years at least, without a single accidental firearm fatality of children 14 yrs or younger, quite a feat (wisqars).

Of the 5 states secular mentions, alaska, montana, wyoming, alabama & lousiana;
alaska, wyoming & montana have a combined population of about 2.5 millions, so their total input is likely negigible. To offset this, louisiana usually has the highest murder rate in the country, overall murder not just gunmurder but I suspect gunmurder as well iirc.
.. Montana enacted shall issue ccw in 1991 when it's violent crime rate was about 110 per 100k or so, then it went up to over 300 & sits in upper 200s, near tripling at one point from it's start year. Not once did montana's violent crime rate go under it's ccw start year stats.
.. Alabama has made some headway in enacting some modicums of guncontrol, but still progun.
.. Pro gun Alaska is enigmatic, a small population ~700,000 with a high violent crime rate, all other pro gun states with low populations have low violent crime rates, montana included as 300 is still below nat avg... Explanation for alaska is that, while it has the lowest population density at 1 per sq mile, it is actually ~67% urbanized with most people living in or near the 5 or 6 cities it has. Juneau what I mean, jeans?

Last edited Mon Feb 11, 2013, 09:57 AM - Edit history (1)

To believe that the proliferation of guns does not lead to a proliferation of
gun violence is to live in a fantasy world. These stats are why the NRA has
worked to block studies that look at guns and gun deaths. And even if we
buy into the NRA's story that it is about mental health then why do we make
it so easy for crazy people to get guns?

Every single one of the 9 'guncontrol states' are below the national average for firearm death rates. And note that of the 33 states above maryland, 30 are above the national avg of 10.25, and are predominantly pro gun states, with but a few maybe 5 or 6 'neutrals'.

National Firearm Death Rate 10.25 -- guncontrol states emboldened.
- south dakota could be considered solidly PRO GUN, perhaps NE, then iowa, NH, ME, WA neutralish.

34 Maryland 9.32 -- confiteor surprising
35 South Dakota 9.21
36 Washington 9.06 ..... 37 New Hampshire 8.96
38 Wisconsin 8.81 ..... 39 Maine 8.51
40 Nebraska 8.32
41 Illinois 8.29
42 California 7.88
43 Iowa 6.99
44 Minnesota 6.88
45 Connecticut 5.85
46 New York 5.22
47 New Jersey 5.19
48 Rhode Island 4.66
49 Massachusetts 4.12
50 Hawaii 3.31

.... and the 10 best states as per fewest gun deaths are all Blue
except for Nebraska.

* Poverty along with drug and alcohol abuse on the reservations
can lead to many killings and suicides.

take out the guns, Wyoming and Montana would have higher rope deaths.
Louisiana, especially NOLA, has a large wealth gap which creates the urban violence.

Another surprising statistic... Minnesota has a higher per-capita rate of ice-fishing related drownings than Florida. Florida, in contrast, has more surfing-related drownings than Minnesota.

Alaska ranks #2 for suicide, Louisiana #35, Alabama #24, Montana #3, and Wyoming #1.

Hawaii ranks #16, Massachusetts #47, Rhode Island #36, New Jersey #49, and New York #50.

http://www.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewpage&page_id=05114FBE-E445-7831-F0C1494E2FADB8EA


The rate of Montana and Wyoming fits in with the pattern of white male middle-aged divorced/single farmers that can't deal with the pressure and loneliness of life and kill themselves, combined with the difficulties in getting mental health care to rural people in small communities.

I don't know why Hawaii's suicide rate is so high, though.

Large Japanese and/or Asian population, perhaps?

...to come to such a conclusion.

Poverty is a much better predictor of murder rates. "Gun death rate" is a canard - Useless in predicting where it is safest to live.

Most of them are suicides, and frankly if someone wants to off themselves, I don't care what method they use.

Further, "gun deaths" include suspects shot by police. Would you feel better if the cops were disarmed? (If you live in Southern California it's ok to say yes.)

It makes no sense to try to reduce "gun deaths" if total deaths due to violence remain the same or climb higher. If we banned green-painted cars we could reduce the number of green car deaths, but total traffic deaths would be unaffected.

True, those with the intent of harming themselves or others will probably proceed with it. However, legalizing guns is giving these people a means of doing so. Allowing gun rights because certain individuals will cause harm regardless would be like getting rid of asylums because insane patients will remain so.

johnston: most are rural states, rural areas have higher suicide rates take out the guns, Wyoming and Montana would have higher rope deaths. Louisiana, especially NOLA, has a large wealth gap which creates the urban violence.

Oh, I see; so you say there's a large wealth gap in new orleans which contributes to urban violence, have you ever used that reasoning to mitigate violent crime in washington DC? which is also the nation's capital & full of intrigue & constant commotion?

krispos: Alaska ranks #2 for suicide, Louisiana #35, Alabama #24, Montana #3, Wyoming #1.
Hawaii ranks #16, Massachusetts #47, Rhode Island #36, New Jersey #49, New York #50.

What's the point? guns enhance suicide, do you deny correlation with the prevalence of firearms? without firearms those red states stats would be lower... correlation doesn't prove causation, but doesn't deny it either.

krispos: The rate of Montana and Wyoming fits in with the pattern of white male middle-aged divorced/single farmers that can't deal with the pressure and loneliness of life and kill themselves, combined with the difficulties in getting mental health care to rural people in small communities.

Oh, I see; & urbanized areas don't have special esoteric problems of their own which might contribute to suicide or murder? rural living is more laid back (why I like it) & generally less inclined to status seeking. New york state & California & Texas & Florida total suicides would dwarf montana & wyoming btw.

Gun ownership rates by state:
States with Below Median Populations of Gun Owners - all 9 GC states
40. Delaware - 25.5% 41. Florida - 24.5% 42. California - 21.3%
42. Maryland - 21.3% 44. Illinois - 20.2% 45. New York - 18%
46. Connecticut - 16.7% 47. Rhode Island - 12.8% 48. Massachusetts - 12.6%
49. New Jersey - 12.3% 50. Hawaii - 6.7%

States with Extremely High Populations of Gun Owners(more than 50%) -AllRed
1. Wyoming - 59.7% 2. Alaska - 57.8% 3. Montana - 57.7% 4. South Dakota - 56.6%
5. West Virginia - 55.4% 6. Mississippi - 55.3% 6. Idaho - 55.3%
6. Arkansas - 55.3% 9. Alabama - 51.7%
http://usliberals.about.com/od/Election2012Factors/a/Gun-Owners-As-Percentage-Of-Each-States-Population.htm

Bears out the obvious, what you all've been saying, or meaning to say. Would be interesting to see what 'total guns per capita' in each state was, I bet the red states would see higher rates even, since nationally per capita guns is about one to one.

is that they have a track record of counting problems.