Alaska ranked number one in firearm death rates in 2015, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Alaska has one of the highest firearm death rates per capita, according to the CDC. And a study by the Violence Policy Center, an organization that studies gun violence, calculates that Alaska's household gun ownership was at 56.4 percent, in 2015. This positive correlation is often observed when it comes to gun statistics.
The VPC says that in addition to the contributing factor of high gun ownership, the study attributes Alaska’s poor ranking to what it calls "weak" gun violence prevention laws. The VPC also analyzed the newly released data from the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
The factors that contribute to receiving a "weak" rating include “adding little or nothing to federal law” and “permissive laws governing the open or concealed carrying of firearms in public.” This holds true for Alaska, a conceal carry state.
It can become difficult to pinpoint exactly why the gun deaths in Alaska were so high, in 2015. However, the CDC says that out of Alaska's 177 firearm deaths, 123 of them were suicides and 42 of them were a result of homicides.
More guns = more gun deaths. Seems pretty simple to me.
But hey, at least we have our Second Amendment right, and that's all that really counts.
Right?
Source http://ift.tt/2jxv3Cu
