The last of the Top Ten Gun Death States

Missouri's Senate Republican Roy Blunt voted against background checks while Clare McCaskill voted for background checks. Eight in the nation and Blunt favored the NRA and corporate profits over citizens' lives.

8. Missouri
> Firearm homicide deaths per 100,000: 5.59 (4th highest)
> Firearm aggravated assaults per 100,000: 88.90 (5th highest)
> Violent crime rate per 100,000: 447.4 (12th highest)
> Need permit to purchase handgun: No
> Governor: Jay Nixon (D)

There were 5.6 homicide deaths by firearms for every 100,000 Missouri residents in 2010, more than all but three other states. There were also 88.9 aggravated assaults with a firearm per 100,000 residents that year, more than all but four other states. Nearly 76% of murders in 2011 were committed with a firearm, higher than all but two other states. The Republican-dominated legislature has spent more time focusing on expanding gun rights rather than curbing them. One Missouri lawmaker, Rep. Mike Leara, recently introduced a bill that would make it a felony for anyone to propose legislation that “further restricts the right of an individual to bear arms, as set forth under the second amendment of the Constitution of the United States.”

Arkansas Senators Democrat Mark Pryor and Republican John Boozman vited against background checks. Ninth in the nation in gun deaths and both these Senators favored the NRA and corporate profits over citizens' lives.

9. Arkansas
> Firearm homicide deaths per 100,000: 4.53 (10th highest)
> Firearm aggravated assaults per 100,000: 100.56 (3rd highest)
> Violent crime rate per 100,000: 480.9 (10th highest)
> Need permit to purchase handgun: No
> Governor: Mike Beebe (D)

Between 2001 and 2010, there were an average of 15.32 total firearm deaths per year — including homicides, suicides and accidents — in Arkansas for every 100,000 residents, the ninth highest of all states. Moreover, the state was one of just three to have more than 100 firearm-related aggravated assaults for every 100,000 residents in 2011. The state’s largest metropolitan area, Little Rock, had the seventh highest violent crime rate of all metropolitan areas. The state’s crime problem was broader than gun use. There were 3,754 property crimes per 100,000 residents in 2011, higher than any state except for South Carolina. The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence awarded the state an F for its gun control laws.

Republican Senators Saxby Chambliss and John Hardy Isakson voted in favor of the NRA and corporate profits hailing from the state with the tenth highest gun deaths in the nation.

10. Georgia
> Firearm homicide deaths per 100,000: 4.57 (9th highest)
> Firearm aggravated assaults per 100,000: 58.64 (13th highest)
> Violent crime rate per 100,000: 373.2 (21st highest)
> Need permit to purchase handgun: No
> Governor: Nathan Deal (R)

In 2010, there were 4.57 firearm homicides for every 100,000 Georgia residents, the ninth highest rate of all states. Between 2001 and 2010, 1.78 women were killed by gun violence annually for every 100,000 residents, more than all but four other states.The state has very permissive gun laws. In 2011, the state scored just an 8 out of 100 in the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence’s scorecard. According to the Center for American Progress, the state’s poor guns laws allow for a high level of illegal gun exporting. There were 28.3 guns used in a crime exported from the state for every 100,000 residents, the 10th highest of all states. Meanwhile, 27.6% of crime guns were purchased in the past two years, the seventh highest of all states.