Alaska: lots of guns, few homicides

Alaska's contradiction? Lots of guns, few homicides

February 6, 2013

Alaska's homicide rate had been dropping and the number of homicides by gun is lower than many locales, including Luxembourg.istockphoto

Can someone familiar with the country's latest gun-control debate explain Alaska to me?

This is a gun-crazy state. Guns are everywhere. About 58 percent of Alaskans own a gun, according to the Washington Post. Given that the U.S. Census says the average household size in the 49th state is 2.65 people, there is, on average, 1.53 guns per household.

Or to make this simple, there is basically a gun in every house.

Alaska homicide rate dropping

And yet, the Alaska homicide rate for 2011, the latest year for which figures are available, was 4 per 100,000 people. That's significantly lower than the 6.4 per 100,000 people for New York City, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg likes to brag about how many guns the New York Police Department has taken away from th..., and about a fifth of the homicide rate for Chicago (19.4 per 100,000), a city with stringent gun control that has been labeled the world's "Deadliest Global City."

But none of that really concerns the question that begs an answer.

If guns in and of themselves are evil, if more guns means people are more likely to kill other people, why does the death toll for Alaska "firearms homicides" stand at 2.6 per 100,000? Actually, the number is probably lower than that now. The data on specifically how people kill each other -- with guns, knifes, beatings -- dates to 2004, and the Alaska homicide rate has fallen about 25 percent since then. But suffice to say, fewer than half the people killed in homicides in Alaska are killed with a gun.

The state's gun-homicide rate is a low number. At 2.6, your odds of being shot and killed in Alaska are lower than your odds of being murdered in the European principality of Liechtenstein (2.8 per 100,000) and about the same as your odds for being murdered in Luxembourg (2.5 per 100,000). Neither country is known as a hotbed of violent crime.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Lowery on February 7, 2013 at 7:18pm

I lived half my life in Alaska and there is a dark side to things there when it comes to shady activities. Lots of criminal activity to be exact and much of it polices itself. If you know what I mean. I think I'm just saying that Alaska may not be the best example of more guns less crime. It has a very small population and many crimes aren't reported to the police. Especially in the towns and villages out in the middle of literally nowhere. But I will agree with the fact, if you are going to do something illegal to an Alaskan, you'll probably be met with loaded gun in your face when you do! They'd hang you as a rug on the wall if they could too! lol

Permalink Reply by Tara on February 8, 2013 at 12:59am

Mike, I think that could be said about anywhere we live. There seems to be a dark underbelly and wickedness in high and low places everywhere. Luckily though, if we have a means to protect ourselves we are one step ahead of the darkness. And that doesn't just mean with a gun if you know what I mean?

Permalink Reply by Mike Lowery on February 8, 2013 at 5:19am

Definitely Tara! It is almost surreal living in America and just taking a step back to try and process what's really going on in the country today. I sometimes feel either the American in me no longer exists so there is no reason to be a part of the madness or that people who understand what their liberty truly is are being pushed into a rather uncomfortable place. Where it is rapidly becoming too cramped for liberty to stick around and she is going to only stay with us if we decide she is worth the effort. Never in a million years would I have felt or thought the way I do today. It is truly bizzarro world. The organized crime syndicate who call themselves the government need to be shown that they have no authority over anyone. I think it would be easier than people think it would be to just stop participating in their game of full Monty. Like those old "your brain on drugs" commercials, just say NO to the crooks and enforce their impotency upon them by not even giving them the acknowledgement they feel entitled to.

Permalink Reply by Tim Brown on December 14, 2022 at 9:13am

"This is a gun-crazy state. Guns are everywhere. About 58 percent of Alaskans own a gun, according to the Washington Post. Given that the >U.S. Census says the average household size in the 49th state is 2.65 people, there is, on average, 1.53 guns per household.
The state's gun-homicide rate is a low number. At 2.6, your odds of being shot and killed in Alaska are lower than your odds of being murdered in the European principality of Liechtenstein(sold as hunting gear mostly) (2.8 per 100,000) and about the same as your odds for being murdered in Luxembourg (2.5 per 100,000)."

I think it's even more guns in Switzerland compared to those 2 Eu countries. I feel like this example shows that firearms themselves aren't the problem, no matter how much media tries to demonize it.

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