Posted December 13, 2015 13:41:12

Only five US states were not impacted by the bloody, perpetual series of mass shootings in the nation this year, according to a site that tracks gun violence.

As of December two, 353 mass shootings have killed 462 individuals in 220 cities, according to the Shooting Tracker web site, which counts all events that have killed or wounded at least four individuals.

A total of 1,317 men and women were wounded following adjusting for the newest toll from the last mass shooting, which saw a husband and wife couple kill 14 and wound 22 in San Bernardino, California, the deadliest such tragedy in 3 years.

If there is no slowdown to this frenetic pace, there will be as a lot of such traumatic deadly events as there are days in the year. Or more.

Hawaii, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming alone have been spared such macabre fate.

Experts debate whether the states had been spared thanks to coincidence or if circumstances there make them a haven of peace.

All of them except West Virginia have not noticed a single mass shooting considering that 2013, when the internet site initial started its count primarily based not on official figures but on reports obtained from media reports and other sources.

The outcome owes in portion to the relatively low population density in these states, professionals say.

Wyoming, house to 584,000 people, is the least populous state, according to 2014 estimates from the US Census.

North Dakota, with 739,500 folks, is the fourth least populated state, ranking 47th out of 50 general by population.

“Naturally, we would count on that states with smaller populations would have fewer mass shootings, on average,” University of Alabama criminologist Adam Lankford said.

The most populous state, California with 38.8 million folks, had 25 shootings, the second largest number this year.

Florida, which counted 27 shootings, the most of any state, has a population of 19.9 million, producing it the third most populated state.

Lack of shootings in five states a ‘coincidence’

The 5 states are also amongst the most rural. Most lack significant cities, except for Hawaii, with Honolulu obtaining a population of about 375,000.

Professor Lankford said men and women in the four states have been significantly less most likely to reside in cities than these in most other US states.

“This affects their threat and probability of experiencing a mass shooting,” he said.

“Even though college and workplace shootings do happen in towns and other rural locations, there are several types of mass shootings that largely happen in cities, such as mass shootings that arise from gang violence, organised crime, and other criminal activity.”

None of these five states, except for Hawaii, has adopted strict gun handle legislation, and it is usually simpler to personal 1 there than elsewhere in the United States.

Wyoming namely does not regulate the transfer or possession of machine guns and no state permit is necessary to purchase a rifle, shotgun or handgun.

That earns it an “F” from the San Francisco-based Law Centre to Avert Gun Violence, an advocacy group. North Dakota and West Virginia also get that lowest attainable grade.

New Hampshire fared just a hair better, with a D-.

Hawaii, in contrast, got a B+, due to the fact of its license and registration needs, ban on assault weapons and massive capacity ammunition magazines, youngster access prevention specifications and restriction on openly carrying of handguns and lengthy guns.

There have been quite a few shootings in those 5 states, but always fewer than four victims.

“None of them have carried out anything innovative or successful to avoid mass shootings, it just happens to be … [a] coincidence,” mentioned Adam Winkler of the UCLA College of Law.

AFP

Subjects: murder-and-manslaughter, law-crime-and-justice, crime, government-and-politics, united-states

Agen Sabung Ayam