No strong link between gun ownership, gun homicide rate

DENVER (KDVR) — Nationwide information doesn’t present a connection between state gun possession charges and gun murder charges.

The nationwide dialog has turned to gun violence and gun management within the final two weeks within the wake of the Uvalde and Tulsa shootings. President Joe Biden will tackle the nation on the topic Thursday night time.

Gun management and gun violence discussions are advanced. They contain who can personal firearms and who can take them from house owners deemed unsuitable, beneath what circumstances individuals should buy them, age limits, ammunition sort and availability, journal capability, “assault” options similar to shrouded barrels or collapsible shares, importation and straw buy prosecutions.

No matter could or could not change, gun possession itself doesn’t seem like the difficulty. Firearm possession information from the RAND Company and firearm murder information from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention should not have a transparent connection. States with excessive gun possession charges typically have the bottom gun homicide charges and vice versa.

The RAND Company estimated the proportion of a state’s adults who lived in a family with at the least one firearm in it in 2016.

Higher Mountain, higher Nice Plains and southern states have the nation’s highest charges. Montana has the very best, with 65% of adults residing in a family with a firearm. Wyoming, Idaho, West Virginia and Alaska spherical out the highest 5. New Jersey, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Rhode Island and New York have the nation’s lowest gun possession charges.

Gun murder charges don’t instantly match.

Some states have excessive charges of each. Louisiana and Mississippi have the nation’s highest gun murder charges and a few of the highest gun possession charges. Others, similar to California and New York, have low possession charges and low gun murder charges.

However the connection is basically coincidental. Montana, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Idaho have the nation’s highest gun possession charges however a few of the lowest gun homicide charges. Alternatively, Maryland, Illinois and New Mexico have comparatively low gun possession charges and a excessive gun homicide fee, and it’s the identical with Illinois. Center ranges of both fee range broadly throughout the U.S.

This evaluation applies to homicides, not firearm mortality. Firearm mortality, which includes each murder and suicide, is extra intently matched with possession charges. Suicide accounted for 54% of the nation’s gun deaths in 2020, in accordance with CDC information.