In its Comparative Survey of State Firearm Laws, the Open Society Institute ranked American states on the strength of their firearm legislation. If a state received full points on all criteria, it would score a total of 100 points.

In this assessment, the states’ total scores ranged from a high of 76 points (strong) to –10 points (very weak). A negative score indicates a state that has very limited gun control laws of its own, and which according to OSI undermines the minimum standards in US federal law.

To view the OSI Comparative Survey, its scores, rankings by jurisdiction and methodology, follow the citation links displayed on each of our tables and charts.

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