Recently, Mother Jones published a chart showing that states with a higher percentage of gun ownership have more gun-related deaths. This chart and similar charts have been circulating social media following the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon on October 1, 2015. But further analysis of the chart leads to a counterintuitive result, contrary to the intentions of Mother Jones.
Guns are more dangerous in states with lower gun ownership. According to this chart, there are MORE deaths per gun-owning household in Rhode Island (the state with the lowest gun ownership) than there are in Alaska (the state with the highest gun ownership). Also, if the average line (assuming it is accurate) were to continue to the left, deaths per 100,000 would only get to a little below 5, even with 0% gun ownership, meaning that some gun-related deaths are possibly coming from households that do not officially (legally?) own guns.
A gun owner who lives in Rhode Island is much more likely to kill someone with that gun than a gun owner in Alaska.
Link to original Mother Jones article here:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/gun-owners-study-one-in-three
Also:
Zero correlation between state homicide rate and state gun laws
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/10/06/zero-correlation-between-state-homicide-rate-and-state-gun-laws/?tid=pm_opinions_pop_bhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/10/06/zero-correlation-between-state-homicide-rate-and-state-gun-laws/