Here's how states with the highest gun-death rates have changed their gun laws recently

Sarah Elbeshbishi, USA TODAY
·4 min read
56

While a handful of states have joined the federal government in enacting stricter gun laws this year, some spurred by mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, just as many states moved in the opposite direction.

Lawmakers have proposed and passed legislation loosening state gun laws, including efforts to repeal permit requirements for individuals carrying a concealed firearm and prohibiting the enforcement of federal gun regulations.

Among these states are Alabama, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi and Wyoming, which have the highest gun-rate deaths across the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2020 data – the most recent year available.

"These are states with very strong gun culture, gun extremists, politicians who continually weaken laws and do not do anything to enact laws that would make their communities safer," Allison Anderman, the director of local policy at Giffords Law Center told USA TODAY.

Here's a look at some of the gun laws that have changed in the states with the highest gun-death rates in the country.

Alabama

Gun-death rate: 23.6 per 100,000

Recent gun legislation:

  • The Alabama legislature in March passed a law to allow individuals to carry a concealed firearm without a permit or license, abolishing the state’s currently legal requirement for carrying a concealed permit. The move came despite opposition by law enforcement leaders. However, Alabamians are required to hold a valid concealed carry permit to carry a firearm until the bill goes into effect in January.

  • The state legislature also passed the Alabama Second Amendment Protection Act, which was set to go into effect in July, restricting local and state law enforcement from enforcing any executive order by the president that limits or restrict the use, ownership or possession of a firearm.

►'This feels different': Why advocates have real hope for gun reform after Buffalo, Uvalde shootings

Louisiana

Gun-death rate: 26.3 per 100,000

Recent gun legislation:

  • A Louisiana state lawmaker proposed legislation to expand concealed carry gun rights by stripping the state’s current permit and training requirements necessary to carry a concealed gun. However, the bill transformed into a measure that would allow teachers to carry concealed guns in classrooms in the days following the Uvalde school shooting. Neither version of the bill made it to a vote.

  • Lawmakers passed a similar piece of legislation to eliminate the state’s requirements to carry a concealed gun in 2021, but Louisiana's Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the measure.

►Exclusive: A Biden vs. Trump rematch in 2024? Two-thirds of Americans say no thanks

Mississippi

Gun-death rate: 28.6 per 100,000

Recent gun legislation:

  • The Mississippi Board of Education, in wake of the recent string of mass shootings, updated a 1990 policy that prohibited everyone but law enforcement from carrying firearms on public school grounds. Now, each school district can determine their own rules regarding armed individuals with enhanced concealed carry licenses on their campuses.

►'Americans deserve to be safe': House passes assault weapons ban that has little chance in Senate

Missouri

Gun-death rate: 23.9 per 100,000

Recent gun legislation:

  • Missouri passed the Second Amendment Preservation Act in 2021, a measure that declares that federal gun laws infringe on Missourians’ Second Amendment right to bear arms and which restricts local law enforcement from collaborating with federal agents on certain efforts relating to firearms. The law also allows for police departments to be fined up to $50,000 for enforcing federal gun statutes. Officials from the two largest cities in Missouri, St. Louis and Kansas City, are challenging the constitutionality of the measure and the United States Department of Justice also filed a lawsuit against the state to challenge the law.

  • Democratic state lawmakers proposed several pieces of legislation last year to strengthen aspects of Missouri’s gun laws, including measures that would require gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms, regulate ammunition sales and close a ‘loophole’ that allows individuals convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor to own firearms. Each measure failed to gain traction.

►'They want to damage me': Trump campaigns as victim at Arizona rally as Jan. 6 probes heat up

Wyoming

Gun-death rate: 25.9 per 100,000

Recent gun legislation:

  • Wyoming state lawmakers passed the Second Amendment Protection Act, similar to the measures passed in Alabama and Missouri, in March aimed to protect those in Wyoming from federal regulations and restrictions of firearms and ammunition. The legislation prohibits local law enforcement from enforcing or administering federal gun regulations.

More coverage for USA TODAY subscribers

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gun laws in US states with the highest gun-death rates have changed