Two of many guns carried at an open carry rally. To the surprise of many gun rights haters no one was shot that day. |
Notice
that the title isn't gun laws and gun death rates. Unlike the sleazy
spinmeisters at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady
Campaign I'm not cherry picking data to make a false point. In their
2013
State Scorecard Why Gun Laws Matter
they claim that gun control works because there is allegedly a 70% overlap of
strict gun control and low gun death rates. Reality looks a little
different.
According
to the Death
Penalty Information Center's numbers
the 10 states with the highest murder rates are:
1.
Louisiana
2.
Alabama
3.
Mississippi
4.
Maryland
5.
Michigan
6.
South Carolina
7.
Missouri
8.
New Mexico
9.
Nevada
10.
Georgia
|
According
to the Mercatus
Center at George Mason University
the 10 states with the most respect for gun rights are:
1.
Arizona
2.
Alaska
3.
Wyoming
4.
Kentucky
5.
Vermont
6.
New Hampshire
7.
Kansas
8.
Nevada
9.
South Dakota
10. Idaho
|
There's
only one state, Nevada, on both lists. That's only 10% overlap. It
should also be noted that Nevada is near the bottom of both lists
further weakening the argument that gun control reduces murder rates.
Let's
look at the situation from the other end of the spectrum:
According
to the Death
Penalty Information Center's numbers
the 10 states with the lowest murder rates are:
50.
Iowa
49.
Hawaii
48.
Vermont
47.
Utah
46.
New Hampshire
45.
Idaho
44.
Maine
43.
Oregon
42.
Massachusetts
41.
Minnesota
|
According
to the Mercatus
Center at George Mason University
the 10 states with the least respect for gun rights are:
50.
California
49.
Massachusetts
48.
New York
47.
Hawaii
46.
New Jersey
45.
Illinois
44,
Maryland
43.
Rhode Island
42.
Connecticut
41. Michigan
|
Once
again there is little correlation. Only two states appear on both
lists, Hawaii and Massachusetts. Weakening the argument that gun
control works is the fact that three states that appear on the list
of low murder rate states, New Hampshire, Idaho, and Vermont, also
appear on the list of states most respecting gun rights.
It
does no good to implement gun control if the murder rate remains
high. Since it is social
factors that drive the murder rate
up and down focusing on guns and gun laws kills people since it
doesn't address the root causes of the violence. It's past time for
gun rights haters to face the facts and stop barking up the wrong
tree.