04/29/2026
7.2 versus 18.5. That’s the gap in gun death rates between states with the strongest and weakest gun safety laws — a difference of 2.5 times.
This isn’t about geography. It’s about policy. And the data from CDC and Everytown’s 2024 analysis is consistent: states that invest in evidence-based prevention approaches have significantly lower gun death rates.
If every state matched the rate of the strongest-law states, an estimated 298,000 lives could be saved over the next decade.