Or more concisely, “Duh!”
Connecticut has more restrictions on gun ownership than most states, so gun-rights advocates argue the Dec. 14 schoolhouse massacre there illustrates the futility of gun control.
But a new study by a pro-gun control San Francisco organization reaches the opposite conclusion: States with the most restrictive laws, including Connecticut and California, have lower rates of gun-related deaths, while states with few limits on firearms have the highest rates.
In 2009 and 2010, the most recent years for which information is available, California had the nation’s strongest gun controls and the ninth-lowest rate of gun deaths, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence , which favors firearms regulation.
Connecticut had the fourth-strongest gun laws and was sixth-lowest in gun deaths, while Hawaii ranked fifth in gun control and had the lowest death rate.
At the other end of the scale, the report found that Alaska, Louisiana and Montana — all graded F for gun control — had the highest rates of deaths caused by gunfire, more than double California’s rate. The law center graded all 50 states and gave an F, for weak regulation, to 24 of them.
Not extremely surprising, when you consider that having a gun in your home increases your family’s risk of suffering a gun tragedy. It stands to reason that states with the easiest access to firearms would suffer the most firearm-related deaths.
But this also proves the rhetoric of the gun nuts idiotic. More guns does not equate with a safer society and societies with stricter gun laws do not create a populace of unarmed victims. These states are safer than the NRA wet dream states and only a freakin’ mental patient would expect any other outcome.
All the NRA wants to do is sell more guns. That — and that alone — is their mission. The people who believe their bullshit are chumpish sheep and there’s absolutely no reason why anyone should listen to them anymore.
