Guns and Ammo rank the top 38 states for Gun owners

[ExTank]

Texas 15th? Seriously, in this political climate today? Just.... wow.

Yeah...between Dallas, Houston, and Austin, you have a fairly poweful (and numerous) anti-gun base. It's not as clear-cut as you might think. And Texas overall still has lots of blue-dog Democrats, 'cause Great Grandad voted for 'em back in 1932, and that's been good enough for generations of Texans. Had one very elderly Texas lady tell me she would never vote Republican even if Satan himself was the front-runner of the Democrat ticket.

Bless her heart.

 

[r1derbike]

I see the people who don't like the poll had thier state ranked low. Ky is one of the lowest ranked in education, glad we made the top 5 for something.

Haha! Thanks for making me lose some expensive latte through my nose!

I looked-up NEA state rankings for education, and Arkansas ranked #5. Not that long ago, we ranked #49, or close, as I recall. I was surprised how far the state jumped in educational quality. While a bit controversial, we have a scholarship lottery that no doubt brought-in tons of money for education, as well as giving scholarships to deserving students.

Back on topic, I didn't get the feeling that Guns and Ammo used any exhaustive research to achieve their rankings. Maybe that is too much to ask?

 

[shep854]

Several states (like the country overall ) were skewed (screwed?) by their big cities.

 

[Inebriated]

I guess I'm ok with NC being tied with the other slew of states at 45 (we ranked 19th, but there were several states with the same score of 45).

Things are looking up around here, though.

 

[2zulu1]

So, Vermont and Arizona are in a numerical tie, but the judges put Arizona on top. I'd wager this is because Vermont is also the most liberal state in the country.

I'd have to disagree with this ranking, however, as Arizona is a Johnny-come-lately to constitutional carry and has that only by legislative action, it can be repealed as easily as it was granted.

Vermont has had constitutional carry longer than the US Constitution has been around. This right is affirmed in the state constitution dating to 1777, and the right has been upheld by the state Supreme Court for over 100 years. The language of the VSC ruling also bars the implementation of almost all other forms of gun control. Thus, the only means of moving backward on gun rights in Vermont is a constitutional amendment.

Well, Arizona is a "Johnny come lately" state, became a state in 1912, but citizens have been carrying since the 1500s.

 

[mookiie]

Several states (like the country overall ) were skewed (screwed?) by their big cities.

You make an excellent point! I was not sure how these statistics were calculated for states that have county or city laws that may differ from state law. Chicago would be an example of this.

A lot of you also pointed out that a lot of the information this is based could be at jeopardy right now or have already fallen (Coloradans you have my sympathies!).

 

[MachIVshooter]

We were a very gun friendly state, until this year :banghead:

We'll get it back, though.

 

[AlbertH]

Michigan's is incorrect. While the process was streamlined, the name of the paperwork was changed from a "permit" to a "license"

One still needs to acquire a license to purchase if they do not have a current CPL. Once you have the license, you have 30 days before the license to purchase expires. The license needs to be completed by the gun dealer and includes the dealer information, gun brand, type, model number, and serial number. You then have another 10 days to turn a copy of that license into your local police so they can add it to the MSP handgun database. A Michigan CPL allows you to forgo applying for the license to purchase, the gun dealer will fill the paperwork, but you still need to turn it into your local police.

Possession of a non registered handgun is a Felony in Michigan.

 

[ThatGuyHank]

#49 ugh, at least we aren't last right?

 

[Sam1911]

I wonder how many different ways this could have been calculated, or how many factors could possibly have been included.

Obviously this is a comparison of gun laws, which should certainly be first among factors of course. But I'd like to see a similar comparison done to include factors like availability of places to shoot, number of organized shooting clubs (or clubs per square mile?), percentage of gun owners to population, number of guns sold per capita, number of FFLs and/or SOT3s (and per capita), and then big ones like number of organized shooting competitions held per month.

The point here would be to offer a more rounded comparison of what it is like to actually use firearms in that state. Just for example -- it could show that Montana has great firearms laws, but maybe (I'm just guessing -- have no idea) there are only ten official shooting matches held in the state per month. A person might have to drive 4 hours just to attend the nearest competition in his/her discipline. On the other hand, that same shooter in PA might have access to 100 matches a month, ensuring that s/he can get to several in different disciplines within an hour's drive of wherever they happen to live, every month.

Similar things could be done for public shooting lands, gun shops, etc.

Not really for bragging rights so much, but just to give a more complete view of what sorts of opportunities are available and how one state may appeal to one sort of shooter to a greater degree than another state.

 

[sidheshooter]

Washington is 40. Granted, we suck on class 3, but some of our self-defense laws are pretty cool, like immunity to civil suits from people injured during the commission of felonies. I'd take WA over, say, CO right now.

 

[Dirtpile]

They list Ohio as #35? That's bull trash. I think we're pretty gun friendly.

They did get the "no magazine capacity" limit incorrect though. You can't have a magazine with a capacity larger than 30+1 inserted into a firearm here.

Agreed but the ranking is weighted. With 40 out of 50 points Ohio isn't a bad place to live. Easing up on the CCW requirements and a bit more reciprocity would help though.
The MSR score is only 7, so even though it's not mentioned in the description it appears the magazine restriction is accounted for.

 

[sig228]

Florida #12. Yeah baby!

 

[beatledog7]

What does this table tell us?

Clearly, one cannot say that a Democrat is always anti-gun or a Republican is always pro-2a, but the party that holds political power in a state and the way its people vote for President cannot be ignored.

 

[wow6599]

Missouri tied with 5 others at 47 points - good enough for 6th place.......I can live with that. Now, if we can just get statewide OC...........

 

[shep854]

Ohio also has Kasich for governer. In '94 he broke his pro-2A pledge and voted for the AWB. Since it passed by only one vote (and that after the Dem-run house broke its own voting rules AND the Dems browbeat a Member into changing his vote), he could (should?) be held responsible for that travesty.

 

[FROGO207]

Agreed-----The criteria for choosing could have been expanded and made a few changes in the ranking for sure. Food for thought however. We ALL need to work on raising scores until all the states tied for first place and then keep them there. I would have thought Maine would be higher ranked than it was considering.

 

[Elkins45]

I see the people who don't like the poll had thier state ranked low. Ky is one of the lowest ranked in education, glad we made the top 5 for something.

Sorry, but thats a little bit incorrect. We are actually one of the highest ranked states in terms of the kids that are in school now, and are climbing every year. What drags us down are all the people who dropped out 30+ years ago and can't read their welfare and 'disability' applications.

The article was functionally correct, but not truly accurate. We don't have an actual "Stand Your Ground" law, we just don't have a duty to retreat. Plus, we have state court precedent that states that in a colorful way.

"It is the tradition that a Kentuckian never runs. He does not have to…he is not obligated to retreat, nor to consider whether he can safely retreat, but is entitled to stand his ground, and meet any (life-threatening) attack made upon him with a deadly weapon…." Gibson v. Commonwealth, 34 SW 936 (Ky. 1931)

 

[Ehtereon11B]

#7. A bit higher than I was expecting.

Vermont and Arizona should be switched. In VT you have no duty to inform a police officer you are armed (like AZ according to the list.) AZ is still on edge with their "new" Constitutional Carry wheras VT has had it in place for a couple hundred years. VT does not specifically say anything about Castle Doctrine because the VT State Constitution is very clear about using a firearm for defense:

Article 16th. Right to bear arms; standing armies; military power subordinate to civil

That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence[sic] of themselves and the State - and as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to and governed by the civil power.

 

[Ford4x4]

I wish there was weight that takes in to consideration how a states laws actually affect carry. For example, in AZ any government building or restaurant that serves alcohol can put up a sign, and instantly it is against the law to carry in there. Some of these signs are hidden or out of the way, but by letter of the law carry he weight of law. However in KY, no private businesses signs carry the force of law, and most governmental buildings (libraries, parks) are prohibited from putting sins up. These types of laws are a lot more important to me than whether I have to inform an officer when carrying.

Glad to see Texas is down the list some. There seems to be a general sentiment that Texas is gun rights paradise, but there are a lot of places with more freedom.

 

[Doubleobuck]

I feel sooo much safer my state is #49

 

[exbrit49]

Indiana is fair to gun owners

Indiana is a great state and although ranking 16th, it is a great state overall in its approach to firearms. the fact that 39% of Indiana owns firearms says it all!
"Back Home again, In Indiana... On the banks of the Wabash!

 

[baz]

Wow. We got #31. I figured we were better than that.

Actually, we didn't too to bad. Main hit was on the "Castle Doctrine" category.

The scoring system here was quite blunt, and not very precise. They did not equally rank states with equal scores. We we're #31, and got 41/50. But Oklahoma got 41/50, but ranked higher, at #30. Half of the states -- #3 to #29 -- are tightly clustered with cores from 42 to 48. It is not a normal distribution at all. Basically, most states got 40 or more. But below 40, the scores begin to drop quickly. The numerical rankings are pretty meaningless. If you take the outcomes and divide by 10, you have a scoring system of 0 to 5, with 5 being best. More than half would score 4 or better. Of those scoring below 4, the median would be 2.1. Cali is 0.9, NY is 0.7, and DC bottoms out with zero.

Arkansas is fine. We could do with a better Castle Doctrine. And G&A needs to hire somebody with a better knowledge of statistics to do its rankings and number crunching.

 

[jbkebert]

Kansas #8 I am good with that.

 

[Warp]

My list would not be the same.

I believe they left a lot of key elements completely out of their little points system.

I would never put Arizona on top. They won't even allow concealed carry until you are 21.

And no, Texas doesn't deserve to be any higher than it is. Go legalize open carry and stop being a bunch of ninnies that can't handle the sight of a handgun before you try to get Texas moved up. While you are at it, get rid of the ridiculous day long training requirement, or the hundreds of dollars required, in order to get a CHL.