No one really wants to live in a dangerous community. There's a reason people leave high-crime neighborhoods. There's a reason people leave high-crime states.
So a recent report that ranked states as the "safest" to "least safe" should matter, but don't get too excited by it. It's nonsense.
See, safety means different things to different people. For most, if an area is unsafe, it's because other people might hurt you. It's not because you might trip going down the stairs.
Yet that recent report I mentioned? Well, let's get into it with a report from the supposedly safest state in the nation.
Massachusetts ranks as the safest state in the country for its low rate of gun deaths, according to the Annual Gun Law Scorecard from the GIFFORDS Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
According to the report, Massachusetts has 3.7 gun deaths per 100,000, the lowest rate in the country. It also ranked as having the fifth strongest gun laws in the country, earning the state an overall A rank.
The Healey Administration celebrated the ranking with a press release, citing the work the state has done in recent years to tighten gun laws.
"We’re proud to be named the safest state in the nation and to receive an A grade for our strong gun laws, which was made possible by the strong leadership of our Legislature. Together, we’ll keep working to enhance safety in all of our communities and save lives," Healy said in a media release.
Yeah, Giffords.
Here's what's not mentioned, though. That ranking of gun deaths included suicides.
See, going back to my comment about tripping down the stairs, one could make the case that accidents should factor into this discussion because more guns mean more opportunities for accidents. I don't accept that but I can see the argument and probably wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. Especially since nonintentional firearm fatalities are actually pretty rare.
But including someone taking their own life is a big problem. Suicides aren't because guns exist. Nearly half of all suicides are carried out with something other than a firearm, after all. Japan has a suicide rate even higher than ours and they've got incredibly extensive gun control laws. The accessibility doesn't have nearly as much to do with suicides as many would like for you to believe.
Especially since you're intentionally counting just one method of suicide.
Now, a lot of those heavily pro-gun states that got terrible grades from Giffords? Most of their "gun deaths" were the result of suicides. They're actually pretty safe with regard to both crime and unintentional shootings, despite the claims otherwise.
Yet because they're pro-gun, a lot of people own firearms. When people decide to take their lives, most aren't going out to the store to buy a gun. They're using a firearm they already own.
Yeah, I'm talking a lot about why suicides shouldn't be included. That's an important point, though, and precisely why these claims of "safest state" versus others is absolutely meaningless.
When you look at homicide mortality rates, things look very different.
The 2022 rates are the most recent the CDC has up on its website, but while pro-gun states may have some high homicide rates, so do some anti-gun states. Also, some anti-gun states have low mortality rates as do some pro-gun states. In fact, anti-gun DC tops the list.
Plus, if we remove the large urban centers from the equation--which are generally run by anti-gun Democrats, for the record--the rates in those pro-gun states plummet.
So while anti-gun lawmakers will preen about these rankings, let's remember just how meaningless they actually are. Kind of like just about everything that comes out of Giffords.
