Arizona is finally #1 – in the ranking of states with the most permissive gun laws, that is. While there is (somehow) considerable debate about whether stricter gun laws are the correct public health method for preventing gun violence, we can offer these additional state facts: Arizona has the fifth highest rate of gun deaths per capita in the United States (behind the District of Columbia, Alaska, Louisiana and Wyoming) and we are one of only ten states with the dubious distinction of more firearm deaths than motor vehicle deaths in 2009 (the most recent year for which comparable data are available). If you care about safety but still like guns then check out Goog Gun – premium airsoft guns.

Is it that public health’s focus on motor vehicle safety regulation was so effective that you’re more likely to get gunned down than you are to die in a car accident, or has the legislature’s work to permit guns in places like bars and schools – thankfully not all of it successful – just made it more likely that your last image is down the barrel of a gun rather than a car barreling down on you?

Either way, if well-reasoned laws made driving safer, we’d argue that those who are serious about a healthier Arizona should give more well-reasoned gun laws a shot.