States with Weak Gun Laws and Higher Gun Ownership Lead Nation in Gun Deaths, New Data for 2015 Confirms

Alaska, Louisiana Have Highest Gun Death Rates in the Nation; Massachusetts, Hawaii Have Lowest

2015 U.S. Firearms Death Rate Up 7 Percent Over 2014—Highest Rate Since 1997

News Release from Violence Policy Center, January 10, 2016

Washington, DC — Newly available data for 2015 reveals that states with weak gun violence prevention laws and higher rates of gun ownership have the highest overall gun death rates in the nation, according to a Violence Policy Center (VPC) analysis of just-released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

In addition, states with the lowest overall gun death rates have lower rates of gun ownership and some of the strongest gun violence prevention laws in the nation. However, even in these states the human toll of gun violence is far above the gun death rate in other industrialized nations.

The VPC analysis refers to overall gun death rates in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. The deaths include gun homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings. A table of the states with the five highest gun death rates and the five lowest gun death rates is below. For a list of gun death rates in all 50 states, see http://www.vpc.org/state-firearm-death-rates-ranked-by-rate-2015/.

Hawaii -- Rank 49th

Household Gun Ownership 12.5 percent

Gun Death Rate per 100,000 3.84