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Peters, Rebecca. 2000 ‘Summary of Results.’ Gun Control in the United States: A Comparative Survey of State Firearm Laws, p. 3. New York, NY: Open Society Institute's Center on Crime, Communities and Culture and the Funders' Collaborative for Gun Violence Prevention. 13 April

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Summary of Results

In this survey the states were individually scored on their gun laws out of a maximum possible score of 100%. The higher the score, the tougher the state's gun laws. Full results are set out on Side 1 of the chart that accompanies this report. The following provides a summary:

General results

42 states scored less than 20% on the study criteria. The average score among all states was only 9%.

The two highest-ranking states, with strong gun laws, were:

- Massachusetts (76)
- Hawaii (71)

Six states have moderate gun laws:

- California (53)
- Connecticut (50)
- Maryland (43)
- New Jersey (35)
- Illinois (35)
- New York (27)

Two core categories of criteria - owner licensing and gun registration - accounted for the wide disparity between these states' scores and the rest.

22 states scored between zero and 20:

Iowa (18)
North Carolina (18)
Rhode Island (18)
South Carolina (17)
Minnesota (16)
Michigan (15)
Missouri (15)
Washington (8)
Florida (6)
Nebraska (6)
Virginia (6)
Colorado (4)
Ohio (4)
Wisconsin (3)
Delaware (2)
Pennsylvania (2)
New Mexico (1)
Oregon (1)
Tennessee (1)
Nevada (0)
New Hampshire (0)
Utah (0)

The 20 lowest-ranking states scored less than zero:

Arizona (-1)
Indiana (-1)
Kansas (-2)
Mississippi (-2)
Alabama (-3)
Idaho (-3)
South Dakota (-3)
West Virginia (-3)
Oklahoma (-4)
Wyoming (-4)
Arkansas (-5)
Georgia (-5)
North Dakota (-5)
Vermont (-5)
Kentucky (-6)
Montana (-6)
Texas (-6)
Alaska (-8)
Louisiana (-8)
Maine (-10)

[Editor's Note: These rankings are subjective, and rely on the authors' assessment of effective regulation to prevent armed violence.]

ID: Q3490

As many publishers change their links and archive their pages, the full-text version of this article may no longer be available from the original link. In this case, please go to the publisher's web site or use a search engine.

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