Report shows that the 10 States with Weakest Gun Laws Collectively Have 3 Times More Gun Violence than the 10 States with the Strongest Gun Laws
Washington, D.C. — A new Center for American Progress report released today has found that Arizona ranks eighth in the nation for the overall rate of gun violence. Arizona also ranked particularly high in a few individual categories of gun violence, ranking seventh in the nation for the rate of women killed by intimate partners using guns and eighth for the rate of law enforcement officers killed with guns. The Center for American Progress has also published an interactive map that links to state specific fact sheets providing detailed information about gun violence in Arizona.
The report analyzes 10 specific indicators of gun violence in all 50 states and found that the 10 states with the weakest gun laws collectively have levels of gun violence that are more than three times higher than the 10 states with the strongest gun laws.
“There is an unquestionable link between the strength of Arizona’s gun laws and the rates of gun violence in the state,” said Chelsea Parsons, Vice President for Guns and Crime Policy at CAP. “While strong gun laws are certainly not the only factor impacting levels of gun violence, it is undeniable that Americans in states with stronger gun laws are safer from gun violence than those in states with weaker laws. Lawmakers in Arizona should strongly consider strengthening gun laws in order to reduce gun deaths and make all of Arizona’s communities safer.
The report looks at 10 critical indicators of gun violence in the United States, including overall gun deaths; gun suicides, homicides and accidents; mass shootings; intimate partner gun homicides of women; gun deaths of people younger than age 21; law enforcement feloniously killed with a gun; fatal shootings by police; and the rate at which crime guns are exported. By comparing the data from all 50 states to the corresponding grade from the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence’s “2015 State Law Scorecard”—which rates the strength of state gun laws—the report found a striking correlation between the strength of a state’s gun laws and the rates of gun violence in that state.
“The data is clear and compelling, more guns and weak laws do not reduce crime and keep us safer,” said Geraldine Hills, from Arizonans for Gun Safety. “We are one of the deadliest states for gun violence, it’s a public health epidemic that cannot be ignored—murders, police officers killed by guns, minorities, women shot by intimate partners, suicides, our children all killed by guns at higher rates. Arizonans for Gun Safety and gun violence prevention advocates from across the state call on our elected representatives to stop being puppets of the gun lobby and bring the full resources of the state to bare in addressing this crisis.”
The report offers common sense recommendations that policymakers in Arizona should consider to reduce gun violence, including closing the private sale loophole and requiring background checks for all gun sales, prohibiting domestic abusers and stalkers from gun possession, banning or more strictly regulating assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and investing in community-based violence prevention programs.
Click here to read the report.
View an interactive map.
For more information on this topic or to speak with an expert, contact Tom Caiazza at [email protected] or 202.481.7141.