10 states with the most gun violence
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10 states with the most gun violence
The Center for American Progress has a new report out analyzing gun violence in the United States.
The report measures gun violence by analyzing data that includes overall firearm deaths, firearm homicides, firearm suicides, gun homicides among women, firearm deaths among children, law-enforcement officers killed with guns and aggravated assaults with firearms.
The states with the highest levels of gun violence based on those and other factors are:
1. Louisiana
2. Alaska
3. Alabama
4. Arizona
5. Mississippi
6. South Carolina
7. New Mexico
8. Missouri
9. Arkansas
10. Georgia
Pennsylvania ranks 27th; New Jersey ranks 47th.
The report also looked at the states' gun laws, such as policies regarding background checks, assault-weapons bans, high-capacity magazine bans and concealed-carry permits.
The center says there is a "clear link between high levels of gun violence and weak state gun laws." Using all of the indicators analyzed, the 10 states with the weakest gun laws have a level of firearm violence that's twice as high as the 10 states with the strongest laws, the report says.
The 10 states with the weakest gun laws are:
1. South Dakota
2. Arizona
3. Mississippi
4. Vermont
5. Louisiana
6. Montana
7. Wyoming
8. Kentucky
9. Kansas
10. Oklahoma
The 10 states the report says have the strongest gun laws are:
1. California
2. New Jersey
3. Massachusetts
4. Connecticut
5. Hawaii
6. New York
7. Maryland
8. Illinois
9. Rhode Island
10. Michigan
