Ranking states with the strictest gun laws

Which states have the strictest gun laws? Which states' laws are the most gun friendly? We combined research results found through a number of sources to produce this ranking of states with the strictest gun laws. The state ranked 1 -- California -- appears to have some of the strictest laws, while the state ranked 50 -- Utah -- seems to have the most lenient gun laws. 

1. California
2. New Jersey
3. Massachusetts
4. New York
5. Connecticut
6. Hawaii
7. Maryland
8. Rhode Island
9. Illinois
10. Pennsylvania
11. Michigan
12. North Carolina
13. Colorado
14. Oregon
15. Washington
16. Minnesota
17. Alabama
18. Delaware
19. Virginia
20. Georgia
21. South Carolina
22. Tennessee
23. Ohio
24. Maine
25. Iowa
26. Vermont
27. New Hampshire
28. Nevada
29. Nebraska
30. West Virginia
31. Missouri
32. South Dakota
33. Mississippi
34. Kansas
35. Indiana
36. Arkansas
37. New Mexico
38. Wyoming
39. Texas
40. Wisconsin
41. Florida
42. Louisiana
43. North Dakota
44. Oklahoma
45. Montana
46. Kentucky
47. Idaho
48. Alaska
49. Arizona

50. Utah 

After completing the rankings, we compared this ranking of states by gun regulations with the murder rates per 100,000 person population and created the following graph to see if we could find any correlation present. It appears that gun laws have little to no effect on the reduction of murders by firearms, holding other variables constant. 

Methodology

Multiple variables were considered when compiling this ranking including the presence of laws requiring gun owners to register their guns, have a carry permit. The presence (or absence) of open carry laws, and Castle Doctrine were also considered among other variables. 

References

Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

Gun laws in the United States by state - Wikipedia

Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence 

GunPolicy.org
NRA.org

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Sterling Morris

PoliticIt provides It Scores on political races. An It Score measures a politician's digital influence. It Scores have correctly predicted more than 700 election outcomes in 2012 with 87% accuracy indicating that digital influence seems to correlate with election results. PoliticIt will release Politicit Candidate -- software that will enable politicians to access their daily It Score and monitor their digital influence. Contact Sterling at Sterling@PoliticIt.com to become a beta tester of PoliticIt Candidate. 

Sterling Morris is a co-founder at PoliticIt. Connect with PoliticIt on Facebook,Twitter, and YouTube.