The map was part of a scholarly study by researchers from Boston Children's Hospital that was published this March in JAMA Internal Medicine: The abstract is found here. The study found that States with more gun regulations had lower rates of gun deaths, and states with less gun laws had higher gun death rates, both in terms of suicide and homicide.While direct causation could not be determined, but at the very least, such a strong correlation should make it clear that existing public policy in many states with lax gun laws comes at a high price in terms of public detriment.
That is not a unique finding as the Center for American Progress released another study in April that pretty much said the same thing, and that showed that 10 states with the weakest gun laws had over twice the rate of gun violence as the 10 states with the strongest gun laws. Also, in 2011, a writer for The Atlantic found, with the help of a colleague, that the presence of gun laws in states had a strong correlation with less gun violence.
Of course, I have pointed out that this anti-gun bias has led to Federal funds being denied to similar research projects because such studies "may be used to advocate or promote gun control". Why withhold funding if there wasn't such an overwhelming prospect that the facts are against you?
