The Daily Beast
The shooting of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, has sparked a fierce debate about Florida’s self-defense and gun laws—but is Florida among the most-armed states in America? The Daily Beast runs the numbers to find out where guns are most prevalent.1. KentuckyNICS background checks per 100,000 residents (Sept. 2010 – Feb. 2012): 78,703Previous rank: 1st
2. UtahNICS background checks per 100,000 residents: 46,898Previous rank: 2nd
3. MontanaNICS background checks per 100,000 residents: 16,888Previous rank: 3rd
4. West VirginiaNICS background checks per 100,000 residents: 15,718Previous rank: 6th
5. AlaskaNICS background checks per 100,000 residents: 14,616Previous rank: 5th
Keeping in mind that NICS background checks do not equal gun sales, as we discussed before, this list does give us some indication of where the action is in eht gun business these days.
The numbers must be skewed however by the fact that some states have Constitutional Carry laws and do not require additional background checks to obtain the concealed carry permit. Alaska would be much higher, I suppose.
What do you think? Please leave a comment.
