I know that having lots of guns around means that we’re all safer. So obviously, there is something wrong with a new study out that says that states with more guns and lax gun laws have more gun deaths than states with fewer guns and stricter gun laws:

The five states with the highest per capita gun death rates in 2013 were Alaska, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Wyoming. Each of these states has extremely lax gun violence prevention laws as well as a higher rate of gun ownership. The state with the lowest gun death rate in the nation was Hawaii, followed by Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Each of these states has strong gun violence prevention laws and a lower rate of gun ownership.

Fun fact: The study uses 2013 data compiled by the Center For Disease Control. Since the mid-nineties, the NRA has successfully lobbied Congress to pressure the CDC not to collect or distribute gun violence data (I wonder what the NRA is worried about). The NRA has been successful for the most part, so it’s a big deal that this data even exists.