Gun Control

Gun Control Dataset Information

To quantify how strict are gun controls in different states, we are using:

• NICS background check data to approximate how many people tried to apply for gun licenses in each state;
• Federal firarm licensee data to approximate how many people actually got approved for gun licenses in each state.
• The total population in different states data to standardize number of approved license and application numbers in differently populated states.

Variable information:

• The approval rate uses the proportion of licensees in the total population of the state to indicate the difficulties in getting apprroved for a gun license.
• The application rate uses the proportion of background checks in the total population of the state to indicate people’s willingness to apply for a gun license.
• The crude rate is the mortality rate due to gun violence.
• A numerical variable for law strength is used to indicate legislation strength in different states; the higher the law_strength value, the more lax the gun laws of a given state are.
• The District of Columbia is excluded from the analysis and the gun control panel focuses on 2017.

Approval rate vs. Law strength

This plot shows the relationships between approval rate, mortality rate, and law strength in each state.

Comments:

Across different states, the approval rate for gun licenses is positively correlated with law strength. This is intuitive because we would expect it to be easier to be approved for a gun in states with less stringent gun laws. Also, with laxer gun laws states generally have higher mortality rates. A regression model was built to further explain this relationship, and information on this can be found through the Regression Analysis tab.

Application rate vs. Law strength

This plot shows the relationship between application rate, mortality rate, and law strength in each state.

Comments:

• The percentage of people who tried to apply for gun licensing is relatively consistent across states, regardless of law strength in a given state. This shows that people across the country share an interest and enthusiasm in guns.
  
• The notable exception is Kentucky. According to Wikipedia, people do not need a license or a permit to own guns for private use in Kentucky. This explains the exceptional passion to apply for guns in that locale, leading to an exceptionally high application rate.