Letter: Population size a factor in number of gun deaths
In the letter, “Ban on carrying guns won’t stop shootings” (Star-Advertiser, July 15), the writer compared gun deaths for Alabama (1,315) to Illinois (1,995) in 2021 and concluded that since Alabama’s less-restrictive gun-carry laws show fewer deaths than Illinois’ more restrictive gun-carry laws, “a no-carry gun law isn’t the solution.” There is a problem, though: population.
In 2021, Alabama had about 5.04 million people; Illinois had 12.67 million. Chicago alone had 2.66 million people, more than half the whole state of Alabama.
The National Center for Health Statistics provided the total death numbers above. It also provided a number for gun deaths per 100,000 people for every state, to normalize population differences — very interesting.
The worst states and their death rates: Mississippi (33.9), Louisiana (29.1), New Mexico (27.8) and Alabama (26.4). The best states: Massachusetts (3.4), Hawaii (4.8), New York (5.4) and California (9). Illinois was 16.1. The second group has generally more restrictive gun-carry laws than the first group.
The writer is right about one thing: None of these statistics are acceptable. But we need to make sure we are comparing apples to apples when developing possible solutions.
Chris Kempf
Kaneohe
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