Odds of accidental gun death much higher in certain states

Americans' risk of dying in a firearm accident depends in large part on where they live in the United States, a new study finds.

People in Southeastern states like Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama run the greatest risk of a gunshot accidentally killing them, researchers said.

Meanwhile, the risk of accidental gun death is much lower in Northeastern states like Massachusetts, New York, Maryland and Connecticut, results show.

"Crude rates in the states with the highest rates, clustered mostly in the Southeast, were about 10 times the rates in the states with the lowest rates, located mostly in the Northeast," concluded researcher David Schwebel , a professor of psychology with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Nationwide, more than 12,300 people died in gun accidents between 2001 and 2021, Schwebel found in his analysis of firearms deaths data maintained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The researchers also found that specific factors within a state increased the risk of death in a firearms accident.

Unsurprisingly, states with more gun owners carried a higher risk of accidental gun death.

But the study, published Thursday in the journal Injury Prevention, also found that having a higher percentage of families living below the poverty line is associated with an increased risk of accidental death.

Any solution to this risk is not going to be easy, Schwebel said.

"Attempts to alleviate the complex nature of poverty in America are challenging, complex and unlikely to happen quickly," Schwebel in a journal news release. "Attempts to reduce firearms ownership are equally unlikely, and arguably inappropriate as firearms represent an integral part of culture and life for many Americans, including especially Americans living in rural areas."

Instead, officials need to focus on policies that promote safe gun handling and storage, Schwebel said.

"Efforts to improve safe use, transport and storage of firearms, plus policy change to promote safer handling of firearms handling and engineering of safety devices for firearms and firearms storage locations are likely to be most effective," he concluded.

More information

The National Shooting Sports Foundation has more on firearms safety .

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