Gun laws are a constant point of discussion in the USA and this list will help you identify 15 states with easiest, least restrictive gun laws in America. With the current state of affairs in America, gun laws are a major point of discussion, and with increased numbers of mass shootings and gun violence, the question is – what can be done to prevent it? While some Americans believe that stricter gun laws will solve (or reduce) the problem, others believe that they should be able to arm themselves in order to protect their families and property. Gun control laws are primarily determined at state level, meaning that each state has different gun laws. States such as New York and California decided to strengthen regulations while others (like Kansas and Maine in 2015) allow adults to carry firearms in public.
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Laws regarding gun control date all the way back to 1791, when The Bill of Rights (including the Second Amendment) was passed. The Second Amendment states: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”. Gun proponents believe that this Amendment protects an individual’s right to own firearms and proponents of gun control point out that it refers only to militia. While federal laws set minimum standards for ownership of firearms, but individual states have their own laws furthering restrictions or making it easier to obtain firearms. According to data published by Gun-control website, the United States has 88.8 guns per 100 people (about 270,000,000 guns) which is the highest per capita number in the world. Also, interesting data published by The Atlantic states that firearm homicide per 100,000 people in the United States is 3,54 which is the highest number on the list. On the bottom of the list is Japan, with 0.0 which reflects the effectiveness of their very strict gun laws. If you are interested in gun manufacturing, make sure to take a look at our list of 6 biggest gun manufacturers in the world.
In America, gun laws are continuously changing with most recent changes in 2016, when President Obama issued executive actions designed to decrease gun violence. Measures included that sellers of firearms need to obtain federal licenses and perform background checks for prospective buyers. This was supposed to reduce access to firearms to violent individuals and criminals. While investigating the correlation between gun ownership and gun violence, I found that the relationship between these two is not always very clear. Although there are higher incidents of gun violence in the states with less restrictive gun laws, exceptions include Maine and Vermont which have VERY relaxed gun laws but they also have among the lowest violent gun death rates. Still, the majority of states with least restrictive gun laws have above-average rates of firearm death. Alaska and Wyoming (which we will discuss in this article) have double the national firearm suicide rate.
In order to compile this list of 15 states with easiest, least restrictive gun laws in America, I’ve consulted many sources. I took a look at what Quora and Reddit users have to say, NRA-ILA map that sums up gun laws in every state, to name a few. I’ve singled out those states that do not require any permit first and then those states that have certain restrictions but still allow carrying firearms. States with no restrictions are ranked higher on our list and those with restrictions (depending on the type of restrictions) are at the bottom. Let’s take a look.
