According to Dillingham's KDLG-AM (via APRN), a new study from the Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization Violence Policy Center has found that Alaska is number one in the country for gun-related deaths per 100,000 residents, according to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on homicide, suicide and accidents.
Alaska's rate in 2008 (the most recent year statistics are available), says Kristin Rand, legislative director for the non-profit, was the first to exceed a rate of 20 firearm-related deaths per 100,000 residents in the 4-year history of the study.
"Stunning," she called Alaska's rate of 20.64 gun deaths per 100,000 residents. The national rate is 10.38 per 100,000. Hawaii was found to have had the lowest rate of gun death.
About 60 percent of Alaska households contain firearms, data show. Rand says there is a clear correlation between rates of gun death and rates of gun ownership and comparative strength of gun laws. "States that tolerate more guns just have higher rates of gun death," she said.
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