Louisiana Ranks 4th Highest in Gun Death Rate

Louisiana has the fourth highest gun death rate and fourth highest gun ownership, according to a recent report.

The information was provided as part of an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Inquiry Prevention and Control data by the Violence Policy Center. The latter is a nonprofit that seeks tighter gun control laws.

Only Alaska, Montana and Alabama were higher than Louisiana in regards to both gun ownership and death rates.

According to the analysis, nearly 22 per 100,000 people in Louisiana died from homicide, suicide or unintentional shooting in 2017. Forty-nine percent of households in the state own a gun.

Alabama had the highest rate of gun deaths at about 24 people per 100,000 reported dead from homicide, suicide or unintentional shooting.

The Violence Policy Center is connecting what they call "weak" prevention laws, which it defined as "those that add little or nothing to federal law and have permissive laws governing the open or concealed carrying of firearms in public," with the higher rates of gun-related deaths.

On the flip side, states they deemed to have "strong" gun violence prevention laws had the lowest gun death rates and lower rates of gun ownership, the report stated.