Monday, June 23, 2014 7:23:23 AM
New Study Ranks 50 States By Gun Sense And Gun Deaths -- Gun Extremists Arrive in 5-4-3-2-1
Photo by Alex Grichenko
by Leslie Salzillo
Fri Jun 20, 2014 at 02:33 PM PDT
A good study that shows which states are doing their part to decrease gun violence/gun deaths, and which states are doing little - to nothing.
Washington, DC — 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 new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
Meanwhile, 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 remains unacceptably high and far exceeds the gun death rate in most Western industrialized nations.
The VPC analysis is based on data newly released this week and refers to overall gun death rates in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available.
The five states with the highest per capita gun death rates in 2011 were Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, Wyoming, and Montana. Each of these states has extremely lax gun violence prevention laws as well as a higher rate of gun ownership. The state with the lowest gun death rate in the nation was Rhode Island, followed by Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Each of these states has strong gun violence prevention laws and has a lower rate of gun ownership.
“Gun violence is preventable, and states can pass effective laws that will dramatically reduce gun death and injury,” states VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann. “Our analysis also shows that states with weak gun violence prevention laws and easy access to guns pay a severe price with gun death rates far above the national average.”
“Lawmakers in every state should roll up their sleeves and pass stronger legislation to prevent needless deaths from gun violence,"states Sue Hornik, executive director of States United to Prevent Gun Violence, a national umbrella group for state gun violence prevention organizations. “The safety of our families and communities is at stake.”
A table of the states with the five highest gun death rates and the five lowest gun death rates is below.
The nationwide gun death rate was 10.38 per 100,000. The total number of Americans killed by gunfire rose to 32,351 in 2011 from 31,672 in 2010.
America’s gun death rates — both nationwide and in the states — dwarf those of most other Western industrialized nations. The gun death rate in the United Kingdom in 2011 was 0.23 per 100,000 while in Australia it was 0.86 per 100,000.
States with the Five Highest Gun Death Rates
(Rank State Household Gun Ownership Gun Death Rate Per 100,000)
1 Louisiana 45.6 percent 18.91
2 Mississippi 54.3 percent 17.80
3 Alaska 60.6 percent 17.41
4 Wyoming 62.8 percent 16.92
5 Montana 61.4 percent 16.74
States with the Five Lowest Gun Death Rates
(Rank State Household Gun Ownership Gun Death Rate Per 100,000)
50 Rhode Island 13.3 percent 3.14
49 Hawaii 9.7 percent 3.56
48 Massachusetts 12.8 percent 3.84
47 New York 18.1 percent 5.11
46 New Jersey 11.3 percent 5.46
For a list of gun death rates in all 50 states, Visit Here [ http://www.vpc.org/fadeathchart14.htm ].
State gun death rates are calculated by dividing the number of gun deaths by the total state population and multiplying the result by 100,000 to obtain the rate per 100,000, which is the standard and accepted method for comparing fatal levels of gun violence. The VPC defined states with “weak” gun violence prevention laws as those that add little or nothing to federal law and have permissive laws governing the open or concealed carrying of firearms in public.
States with “strong” gun violence prevention laws were defined as those that add significant state regulation that is absent from federal law, such as restricting access to particularly hazardous and deadly types of firearms (for example, assault weapons), setting minimum safety standards for firearms and/or requiring a permit to purchase a firearm, and restricting the open and concealed carrying of firearms in public.
State gun ownership rates were obtained from the September 2005 Pediatrics article “Prevalence of Household Firearms and Firearm-Storage Practices in the 50 States and the District of Columbia: Findings From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002,” which is the most recent comprehensive published data available on state gun ownership.
The above information was compiled and released with permission by:
The Violence Policy Center [ http://www.vpc.org/ ] (www.vpc.org) is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. Follow the Violence Policy Center on Facebook and follow @VPCinfo on Twitter.
States United to Prevent Gun Violence [ http://www.ceasefireusa.org/ ] (www.supgv.org) is a national non-profit organization working to support state-based gun violence prevention groups and help build new state-led organizations. States United believes that all Americans deserve to live in a country free from the fear, threat, and devastation caused by gun violence.
Congratulations, Rhode Island!
Cross-posted to Liberals Unite [ http://samuel-warde.com/2014/06/state-one-weakest-gun-laws-highest-gun-deaths-new-study-shows-us/ ]
Special thanks to Coalition To Stop Gun Violence [ https://www.facebook.com/CoalitiontoStopGunViolence ] and Campain To Unload [ https://www.facebook.com/CampaigntoUnload ]
© Kos Media, LLC (emphasis in original)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/20/1308465/-New-Study-Ranks-50-States-By-Gun-Sense-And-Gun-Violence-Deaths [with comments]
--
Florida Extends 'Stand Your Ground' To Cover Warning Shots
This undated family photo provided by Lincoln B. Alexander shows, Marissa Alexander in her car in Tampa, Fla. Alexander had never been arrested before she fired a bullet at a wall one day in 2010 to scare off her husband when she felt he was threatening her. Nobody got hurt, but this month a northeast Florida judge was bound by state law to sentence her to 20 years in prison.
(AP Photo/Lincoln B. Alexander)
By Andres Jauregui
Posted: 06/22/2014 9:40 am EDT Updated: 06/22/2014 11:59 pm EDT
Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law Friday an extension of the state's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law, which would cover warning shots.
According to Newsy, the bill was written with the case of Marissa Alexander [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/marissa-alexander/ ] in mind. Alexander, 33, was found guilty of aggravated assault and sentenced to 20 years in prison [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/19/marissa-alexander-gets-20_n_1530035.html ] after firing what her defense claimed was a warning shot at the husband during a domestic dispute. An appellate court later overturned her conviction and ordered a retrial.
In a statement, Alexander's lawyers said they "are grateful for the governor's actions," according to ABC News. Prosecutors say the law won't help Alexander because it won't be applied retroactively [ http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-extends-stand-ground-include-warning-shots/story?id=24244906 ], and there's evidence that suggests the shot she fired was not a warning.
"The new law, as it stands now, allows you to claim immunity from prosecution if you used or threatened deadly force," Attorney Anthony Rickman told WTVT. "The problem was that under Florida's Stand Your Ground laws, as it was originally, it only allowed you to use that defense if you used actual deadly force."
But gun owners interviewed by the station expressed concern that the law will allow people to pull out their guns and start shooting whenever they feel threatened [ http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/25834304/governor-signs-warning-shot-bill-into-law ].
"Bullets have to go somewhere," Jason Collazo told WTVT. "It's going to endanger people whether they're firing into the air, into the ground, at a tree, they don't know if that surface is going to ricochet, so it's just not well thought out."
Alexander is awaiting a retrial.
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/22/stand-your-ground-warning-shots-marissa-alexander_n_5519168.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
--
Florida Gov. Rick Scott Signs 'Pop-Tart' Gun Bill Into Law
By Igor Bobic
Posted: 06/21/2014 3:06 pm EDT Updated: 06/21/2014 3:59 pm EDT
On Friday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed a bill that prohibits schools from disciplining students who play with simulated weapons, The Miami Herald [ http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/20/4191793/gov-rick-scott-signs-bills-on.html ] reported.
Lawmakers approved the so-called "Pop-Tart" bill after an 8-year-old Maryland boy earned a suspension for biting a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/pop-tart-gun-bill_n_2852472.html ] last year.
The boy later received a lifetime membership to the National Rifle Association, which supported the legislation.
State Sen. Greg Evers (R), who sponsored the legislation, said it would prevent situations "where you chew a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun and you are expelled" from school, according to the Herald [ http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2014/04/pop-tart-bill-wins-senate-support.html ].
Asked if any similar incidents had occurred in Florida, Evers cited a student who was expelled in his district.
"Two kids were sitting down reading a book and there was a picture of a Wild Wild West show and one person has a gun," he told [id.] the Herald in April. "One student tells another student that he's got a cap gun at home that's the same as the one in the picture. The teacher sent him to the principal and he was expelled."
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/21/scott-pop-tart_n_5518167.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Photo by Alex Grichenko
by Leslie Salzillo
Fri Jun 20, 2014 at 02:33 PM PDT
A good study that shows which states are doing their part to decrease gun violence/gun deaths, and which states are doing little - to nothing.
Washington, DC — 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 new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
Meanwhile, 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 remains unacceptably high and far exceeds the gun death rate in most Western industrialized nations.
The VPC analysis is based on data newly released this week and refers to overall gun death rates in 2011, the most recent year for which data is available.
The five states with the highest per capita gun death rates in 2011 were Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, Wyoming, and Montana. Each of these states has extremely lax gun violence prevention laws as well as a higher rate of gun ownership. The state with the lowest gun death rate in the nation was Rhode Island, followed by Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Each of these states has strong gun violence prevention laws and has a lower rate of gun ownership.
“Gun violence is preventable, and states can pass effective laws that will dramatically reduce gun death and injury,” states VPC Executive Director Josh Sugarmann. “Our analysis also shows that states with weak gun violence prevention laws and easy access to guns pay a severe price with gun death rates far above the national average.”
“Lawmakers in every state should roll up their sleeves and pass stronger legislation to prevent needless deaths from gun violence,"states Sue Hornik, executive director of States United to Prevent Gun Violence, a national umbrella group for state gun violence prevention organizations. “The safety of our families and communities is at stake.”
A table of the states with the five highest gun death rates and the five lowest gun death rates is below.
The nationwide gun death rate was 10.38 per 100,000. The total number of Americans killed by gunfire rose to 32,351 in 2011 from 31,672 in 2010.
America’s gun death rates — both nationwide and in the states — dwarf those of most other Western industrialized nations. The gun death rate in the United Kingdom in 2011 was 0.23 per 100,000 while in Australia it was 0.86 per 100,000.
States with the Five Highest Gun Death Rates
(Rank State Household Gun Ownership Gun Death Rate Per 100,000)
1 Louisiana 45.6 percent 18.91
2 Mississippi 54.3 percent 17.80
3 Alaska 60.6 percent 17.41
4 Wyoming 62.8 percent 16.92
5 Montana 61.4 percent 16.74
States with the Five Lowest Gun Death Rates
(Rank State Household Gun Ownership Gun Death Rate Per 100,000)
50 Rhode Island 13.3 percent 3.14
49 Hawaii 9.7 percent 3.56
48 Massachusetts 12.8 percent 3.84
47 New York 18.1 percent 5.11
46 New Jersey 11.3 percent 5.46
For a list of gun death rates in all 50 states, Visit Here [ http://www.vpc.org/fadeathchart14.htm ].
State gun death rates are calculated by dividing the number of gun deaths by the total state population and multiplying the result by 100,000 to obtain the rate per 100,000, which is the standard and accepted method for comparing fatal levels of gun violence. The VPC defined states with “weak” gun violence prevention laws as those that add little or nothing to federal law and have permissive laws governing the open or concealed carrying of firearms in public.
States with “strong” gun violence prevention laws were defined as those that add significant state regulation that is absent from federal law, such as restricting access to particularly hazardous and deadly types of firearms (for example, assault weapons), setting minimum safety standards for firearms and/or requiring a permit to purchase a firearm, and restricting the open and concealed carrying of firearms in public.
State gun ownership rates were obtained from the September 2005 Pediatrics article “Prevalence of Household Firearms and Firearm-Storage Practices in the 50 States and the District of Columbia: Findings From the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2002,” which is the most recent comprehensive published data available on state gun ownership.
The above information was compiled and released with permission by:
The Violence Policy Center [ http://www.vpc.org/ ] (www.vpc.org) is a national educational organization working to stop gun death and injury. Follow the Violence Policy Center on Facebook and follow @VPCinfo on Twitter.
States United to Prevent Gun Violence [ http://www.ceasefireusa.org/ ] (www.supgv.org) is a national non-profit organization working to support state-based gun violence prevention groups and help build new state-led organizations. States United believes that all Americans deserve to live in a country free from the fear, threat, and devastation caused by gun violence.
Congratulations, Rhode Island!
Cross-posted to Liberals Unite [ http://samuel-warde.com/2014/06/state-one-weakest-gun-laws-highest-gun-deaths-new-study-shows-us/ ]
Special thanks to Coalition To Stop Gun Violence [ https://www.facebook.com/CoalitiontoStopGunViolence ] and Campain To Unload [ https://www.facebook.com/CampaigntoUnload ]
© Kos Media, LLC (emphasis in original)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/20/1308465/-New-Study-Ranks-50-States-By-Gun-Sense-And-Gun-Violence-Deaths [with comments]
--
Florida Extends 'Stand Your Ground' To Cover Warning Shots
This undated family photo provided by Lincoln B. Alexander shows, Marissa Alexander in her car in Tampa, Fla. Alexander had never been arrested before she fired a bullet at a wall one day in 2010 to scare off her husband when she felt he was threatening her. Nobody got hurt, but this month a northeast Florida judge was bound by state law to sentence her to 20 years in prison.
(AP Photo/Lincoln B. Alexander)
By Andres Jauregui
Posted: 06/22/2014 9:40 am EDT Updated: 06/22/2014 11:59 pm EDT
Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law Friday an extension of the state's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law, which would cover warning shots.
According to Newsy, the bill was written with the case of Marissa Alexander [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/marissa-alexander/ ] in mind. Alexander, 33, was found guilty of aggravated assault and sentenced to 20 years in prison [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/19/marissa-alexander-gets-20_n_1530035.html ] after firing what her defense claimed was a warning shot at the husband during a domestic dispute. An appellate court later overturned her conviction and ordered a retrial.
In a statement, Alexander's lawyers said they "are grateful for the governor's actions," according to ABC News. Prosecutors say the law won't help Alexander because it won't be applied retroactively [ http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-extends-stand-ground-include-warning-shots/story?id=24244906 ], and there's evidence that suggests the shot she fired was not a warning.
"The new law, as it stands now, allows you to claim immunity from prosecution if you used or threatened deadly force," Attorney Anthony Rickman told WTVT. "The problem was that under Florida's Stand Your Ground laws, as it was originally, it only allowed you to use that defense if you used actual deadly force."
But gun owners interviewed by the station expressed concern that the law will allow people to pull out their guns and start shooting whenever they feel threatened [ http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/25834304/governor-signs-warning-shot-bill-into-law ].
"Bullets have to go somewhere," Jason Collazo told WTVT. "It's going to endanger people whether they're firing into the air, into the ground, at a tree, they don't know if that surface is going to ricochet, so it's just not well thought out."
Alexander is awaiting a retrial.
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/22/stand-your-ground-warning-shots-marissa-alexander_n_5519168.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
--
Florida Gov. Rick Scott Signs 'Pop-Tart' Gun Bill Into Law
By Igor Bobic
Posted: 06/21/2014 3:06 pm EDT Updated: 06/21/2014 3:59 pm EDT
On Friday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) signed a bill that prohibits schools from disciplining students who play with simulated weapons, The Miami Herald [ http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/20/4191793/gov-rick-scott-signs-bills-on.html ] reported.
Lawmakers approved the so-called "Pop-Tart" bill after an 8-year-old Maryland boy earned a suspension for biting a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun [ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/pop-tart-gun-bill_n_2852472.html ] last year.
The boy later received a lifetime membership to the National Rifle Association, which supported the legislation.
State Sen. Greg Evers (R), who sponsored the legislation, said it would prevent situations "where you chew a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun and you are expelled" from school, according to the Herald [ http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2014/04/pop-tart-bill-wins-senate-support.html ].
Asked if any similar incidents had occurred in Florida, Evers cited a student who was expelled in his district.
"Two kids were sitting down reading a book and there was a picture of a Wild Wild West show and one person has a gun," he told [id.] the Herald in April. "One student tells another student that he's got a cap gun at home that's the same as the one in the picture. The teacher sent him to the principal and he was expelled."
Copyright ©2014 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/21/scott-pop-tart_n_5518167.html [with embedded video report, and comments]
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
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