Progressive Group Finds Links Between Weak Gun Regulations And Gun Deaths
By David Madden
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A progressive-leaning Washington-based group has come out with a study suggesting that states with the weakest gun laws have the greatest percentage of gun related homicides in the country. So how did our area fare?
It depends on how you look at the numbers compiled for 2010 by the Center for American Progress. In terms of just the number of deaths by firearm, Pennsylvania ranked 4th, New Jersey 18th. Taken on a per-capita basis, though, Pennsylvania is number 16, New Jersey 26.
But no matter how the figures shake out, Michael Morrill with Keystone Progress, the Pennsylvania chapter, contends they should prompt legislators to enact tighter gun laws.
"When you look at the kinds of things that are being proposed, common sense changes in gun laws, these are things that almost everyone in Pennsylvania agrees with."
Particularly on the issue of universal background checks, although other groups that support gun ownership might dispute that.
