2023 Giffords Gun Safety Scorecard

[Ben]

As per usual, the closer to the bottom for your state, the better. 

I am skeptical of those gun deaths per 100K for "A" rated CA and NY, and probably IL as well, with the warzone that is Chicago.

https://giffords.org/lawcenter/resources/scorecard/

I noticed they show a positive change for stricter concealed carry licensing standards, despite a record number of constitutional carry states. 

[HankB]

Even given the questionable numbers and methodology they use, I see that "F" rated Texas has a lower gun death rate than "A-" rated Illinois.

[Ben]

Even given the questionable numbers and methodology they use, I see that "F" rated Texas has a lower gun death rate than "A-" rated Illinois.

It's also interesting that they post the raw number of deaths in the poorly rated states, but not in the highly rated states. The impact of ~4600 deaths in Texas don't look as bad when you also have to show ~3600 for the A+ state of CA.

[MillCreek]

I see that in the estimation of the Gifford organization, Washington state has 'improved'. We will 'improve' some more later this year when the assault weapon ban is signed.

[K Frame]

Virginia gets a B?

*expletive deleted*ing liberal ass pansies in the state legislature.

[Perd Hapley]

   Scroll down to the hate crimes. Big increase in Trump's first year - even bigger one in Brandon's.

Missouri is 47th for "strong gun laws," and we "passed no significant gun legislation" this past year. You're welcome.

[WLJ]

  Scroll down to the hate crimes. Big increase in Trump's first year - even bigger one in Brandon's.

Coming from people who consider using the wrong pronoun for someone who is confused themselves what their proper pronoun is a hate crime.

[Pb]

CA does have a moderate murder rate of about 5.6 per 100k.

There is not mystery here, and it has nothing to do with gun laws.

Black people commit most of the murders in the USA (~53%), and CA has a black population (5.7%) considerably lower than the national average (12.5%).

Look at the top five states for low murder:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_intentional_homicide_rate

 1) New Hampshire   
 2) Maine   
 3) Vermont   
 4) Idaho   
 5) Massachusetts   

They are all states with low black populations.  The top four low-murder states all have little gun control (Constitutional carry states) in fact (hmm, though I recollected Vermont did just get screwed with some gun control in the last couple of years though).

It has nothing to do with guns, and everything to do with the cultural attitude of the population towards violence.

[Ben]

Look at the top five states for low murder:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_intentional_homicide_rate

One of the helpful things about the above link is that it separates out suicides, which Giffords does not. There are plenty of suicides in CA. I have to wonder if their Giffords rate per 100K is lower than average, that it is also because maybe people in CA suicide differently than some other states. In a supermajority liberal state, I am curious if suicide by pharmaceuticals or other non-gun means are higher than in other states. I tried googling suicide by method, but could only find gun suicides parsed out. Otherwise suicides were all clumped together. My googlefu may be weak.

[cordex]

The following table is for 2018 from the CDC:

State	Firearm (%)	Hanging/Suffocation (%)	Poisoning (%)	Other/Unknown (%)	Suicides per 100,000 (2020)
Alabama	49.8	26.7	18.3	5.3	15.7
Alaska	61.8	19.1	7.2	12.0	25.8
Arizona	51.2	26.3	15.3	7.1	17.1
Arkansas	49.9	25.7	19.8	4.6	17.3
California	46.9	24.5	18.5	10.1	10.8
Colorado	51.4	25.3	14.4	8.9	21.0
Connecticut	23.4	51.4	14.4	10.8	9.9
Delaware	41.2	31.4	20.6	6.9	13.9
Florida	56.8	20.6	14.9	7.7	14.0
Georgia	57.0	22.6	16.5	3.9	14.3
Hawaii	26.5	33.6	21.5	18.3	17.4
Idaho	57.3	22.9	9.9	9.9	22.7
Illinois	52.1	25.1	15.9	6.9	11.8
Indiana	52.7	24.6	16.8	5.9	16.4
Iowa	51.8	29.3	13.3	5.6	14.3
Kansas	58.3	21.8	15.5	4.4	16.2
Kentucky	51.2	24.4	20.0	4.4	19.6
Louisiana	48.5	29.5	15.5	6.5	14.1
Maine	43.3	36.4	12.4	7.8	23.6
Maryland	35.5	38.5	21.5	4.5	9.9
Massachusetts	28.6	50.1	12.6	8.7	12.2
Michigan	46.6	30.2	17.6	5.6	14.0
Minnesota	49.7	30.5	11.8	8.0	13.4
Mississippi	49.8	25.2	20.1	4.9	14.3
Missouri	57.8	24.2	15.5	2.5	18.5
Montana	60.2	19.7	7.2	12.8	25.1
Nebraska	52.4	26.7	13.3	7.6	14.9
Nevada	55.3	23.7	13.6	7.4	20.3
New Hampshire	44.3	36.4	12.6	6.7	19.6
New Jersey	23.5	53.5	13.6	9.4	8.6
New Mexico	47.1	28.3	18.4	6.2	24.4
New York	30.2	49.0	12.4	8.4	8.6
North Carolina	49.2	25.8	17.5	7.5	14.0
North Dakota	52.1	25.6	13.5	8.8	19.2
Ohio	49.1	25.3	17.6	7.9	14.2
Oklahoma	62.4	20.6	11.4	5.6	22.2
Oregon	50.6	28.1	13.6	7.8	17.6
Pennsylvania	47.3	28.3	18.2	6.3	14.3
Rhode Island	23.1	53.8	15.4	7.7	9.6
South Carolina	53.5	25.5	16.2	4.8	16.3
South Dakota	53.9	26.4	12.2	7.6	18.9
Tennessee	52.7	24.7	17.6	5.0	17.6
Texas	51.7	23.1	16.5	8.7	12.7
Utah	50.1	27.4	11.4	11.1	23.5
Vermont	35.3	41.2	11.8	11.8	19.6
Virginia	47.6	28.1	17.2	7.1	12.6
Washington	42.1	32.2	13.6	6.4	17.6
West Virginia	51.5	24.2	20.5	5.8	22.5
Wisconsin	53.2	28.8	12.0	5.2	13.1
Wyoming	66.3	17.8	6.3	16.6	26.2

[Ben]

^^^

Thanks! That's interesting data. My theory doesn't hold up for CA. Possibly for NY though.

[French G.]

The crap winter states are highly represented at the top of the stats. Probably also the self medicate with alcohol states because not much else to do.

[MikeB]

These rankings are trash. How is PA a B rank? Yes we have so called Universal Background Checks on Pistols, but not long guns.

We don’t yet have constitutional carry; but we have shall issue for $20 for 5 years that in most counties is a 15 min process. No training required. We can carry in Bars and Restaurants. There is almost no where we can’t carry. To me that in itself elevates gun friendliness way above most other states. Constitutional carry doesn’t do much good when you have to leave your gun at home or leave it in the car all the time.

We can own all NFA items.

No red flag laws.

Really except for background checks on handguns transfers, there are some exceptions. PA is probably close to the least restrictive state in the country for gun laws.