Gun Control: Ranking Your Right to Bear Arms by 10 States

How does gun control rank in your state?

Even though mass shootings at schools, churches, entertainment venues, and other places regularly make national headlines, they only represent a tiny piece of our country’s never-ending trend of gun violence.

54% of mass shootings are connected to family or domestic violence, often in private residences. Similarly, 36% of US gun deaths are homicides, but 62% are suicides.

While rates of other violent crimes have been steadily decreasing, the number of gun homicides over the last decades has increased, sparking various responses, from the President’s calls to arm teachers to student walkouts.

The debate over gun control has been notoriously biased for many years. Each state has its own laws governing who can own a handgun and its firearm death rate.

So which places have the best gun safety, and which are lacking? To find out, we dove into the data and came up with a list of the US’s 10 most and least gun-friendly states.